Going To The Movies
DH and I don’t get out enough together as a couple. Everyone tells us this and on some level, we know it too.
But the truth is that both of us are pretty unsociable types who have no desire to get dressed up or make small talk out of office hours. Once the kids are in bed, we usually have a bit of quiet time, then eat dinner lateish, while watching a DVD or some crappy TV.
DS goes out for work drinks 1-2 times a month and I try to go out to dog training weekly, but I’m not getting to go at the moment. We both go to pilates on Mondays; he does the first class and I do the second.
We don’t have any local friends we socialise with, nor do we have family that live nearby who will babysit for us.
I know our lives will sound grim to a lot of people reading but honestly, we are happy enough. Sure it would be nice to get away for a child free weekend now and again; the last time this happened was over 7 years ago and there is absolutely no prospect of this happening anytime soon, but we figure we only have to wait another 7 years and they’ll be able to look after each other/themselves!
But what we do like to do , now and again, is go to the movies. A lot of films we’d like to see come and go before we’ve managed to organise tickets and a sitter. But that’s okay, we watch them at home.
However, when The Hobbit came out, both of us wanted to see it at the cinema, preferably in 3D. We made plans for over Christmas but both DH and I were struck down by this flu virus that was doing the round and it took us weeks to recover. Eventually we were well enough to start thinking about going, and we were shocked to realise that the run had almost finished. DH thought about taking a day off so we could go during the daytime, but none of the sessions started until after lunchtime, and so wouldn’t finish in time for the school run.
In the end, we decided to bite the bullet and buy tickets for an evening session- the movie started at 9pm and didn’t finish until after midnight. We booked our favourite babysitter thinking that the kids would already be in bed when she arrived. Our plan was to get the younger two to sleep and have the older ones reading bed, ready to put their lights out at set times. The kids had other ideas.
I suppose my first mistake might have been telling them that S was going to be babysitting them that night. They love her; she’s the right age to be a youngish Granny figure for them so they immediately assumed they would be able to watch TV and play games with her. The news that they would already be in bed didn’t go down well.
She turned up at 8:30pm, and immediately they all piled downstairs to give her hugs and kisses. All except DD1, who had worked herself into a state about having nothing to read and being too old for a ‘babysitter’. She’s only 11 so she’ll be having them for a few years yet!
We chased them upstairs and tried to give final kisses but both the little ones became quite tearful at this point. DD3 told me she felt like she had a few year previously when I’d left her and her brother behind and flew out to NZ with the older two, to say goodbye to my sick grandfather. She was only 3 at the time, so I wasn’t really expecting her to remember this. I think it’s safe to say she will have plenty to talk to her therapist about when she’s older.
DD2 was fine, she was happily reading in bed but DD1 was still sulking. As we we went to leave, DS kicked off, calling ‘Mummy, mummy’ and sobbing in that heart rending way they do. Luckily S is both experienced and confident and she shooed us off while she went to investigate.
30 mins later I got a text from her saying all was well. Phew.
We were free to enjoy the film. And enjoy it we did. This isn’t a film review, so all I’ll say is The Hobbit is good, especially if you liked LOTR. If you are are that way inclined, I’m sure you’ll be able to find things to criticise but if you are like me and just want to be able to sit there and enjoy the story, scenery and effects, you’ll like it too. It was quite long and I did have a lovely little doze at points but the cinema wasn’t full and everyone was wearing 3D glasses so I don’t think anyone noticed. I always feel a bit homesick watching these films, even though it’s been years since I lived in NZ and I have no wish to go back. I guess it’s just the light and the trees that seem so familiar, as well as some of the landscapes.
So we had a nice time, and the babysitter said the kids had been fine after the initial settling down. I keep telling myself that we owe it to them to go out and leave them with the sitter more often.
But today I’m so knackered that I’m not sure I can be bothered.
We’re the same… We have no family nearby, so our evenings out are limited, especially as DH has IBS which *always* kicks in when we try to go out for a meal, and sitting in the cinema not talking to each other always seems like a waste of a babysitting night, especially as we have totally different tastes in films. If we go out we have to pay a sitter, so we only do it when we *really* want to go out – and the rest of the time we sit at home in front of our respective electronic gadgets. Oh well, works for us!
We always chat more in the evening over a bit of TV or a DVD than we do the rest of the day, when we always seem to be barking instructions to each other.
We have a no screens on the sofa rule , which helps!