Feature Attraction

I love the movies. Part of the reason that I still head out to my local movie theater is the feeling of community that I get when I sit there, in the dark, watching the screen. Laughing, crying, squirming, wincing, applauding. We do it together. Not that we always agree. Sometimes I feel like the only one who got what was happening in the shadow dance in front of me. That's why I rarely go to the movies alone. I want to have someone to check in with after the show.
"Did you see that?"
"I know. And when he said..."
"I couldn't believe that part."
"I can't wait to tell my mom about this one."
Coming out into the light again, is like waking up from a dream. Sure, sometimes it's a poorly written dream that was horribly miscast, but I'm always a little sad when it's over.
Events of this past week won't change that. I will always be more afraid of the things that happen outside the movie theater than in, and I refuse to surrender my favorite pastime for the illusion of safety. Watching on-demand video in my living room isn't the same. It never will be.Sticky floors, chatty patrons with cell phones, commercials, and all the other annoyances that come along with a trip to the local superfaplex drift away as the lights go down. I'm home. Until the lights come on again and we head back out into the streets to meet the real world. The one that has been waiting there for the past two hours while I was somewhere else.
It's magic. I'm not giving it up.