Magic Sunday

At Last! 

I finally made it to the new theater, the Cinemagic in Sturbridge yesterday.  I think this is the height of intelligent development.  They replaced a store with a movie theater, five minutes from my house!  The popcorn was stale and it was obvious everybody that works there is still trying to figure out how to do their jobs but the movie quality and sound system were state of the art.  I went to see Magic Mike based solely on my daughter’s enthusiastic endorsement.  I wasn’t really excited to see a movie about male strippers and I was literally the only person in the audience with a Y chromosome.  The best part was watching my wife react to the movie – giddy with delight at the male stripping scenes.  She likes to pride herself on being proper but she was definitely experiencing some guilty pleasure.  The movie was okay, Tatum once again showing some range and McConaughey finally able to take his shirt off at will (his dream part).  The real magic yesterday though was finally seeing our son after his return from Kyrgyzstan.  We met him, his most excellent girlfriend, and his girlfriend’s parents at the Old Mill restaurant in Westminster.  It was about equidistant for everybody that was coming and was a truly neat place.  I have driven within a mile of this restaurant literally hundreds of times because it is close to my route back to my home town but I’d never seen it before.  It is a 19^th century saw mill that was converted into a restaurant.  It still had a mill pond stocked with ducks and geese and a waterfall at the front entrance.  We were the first to arrive and watched the end of a wedding ceremony at the edge of the pond.  My son arrived with his hair back under control but he looked way too skinny.  The females in attendance, led by my wife and his girlfriend have taken on the mission of fattening him back up with an almost messianic passion.  I kind of felt bad for him as they both insisted he keep eating.  It is so good to have him back in the States.  I didn’t realize how much it had bothered me until he was back and that weight was lifted.  I guess I can understand how my mother felt all those years I was traipsing around the world, but at least I was always surrounded by well armed friends.  This was the first time we met his girlfriend’s parents and I was not surprised they turned out to be supremely nice people, based on our experience with their daughter - the most excellent girlfriend.  While it might have been awkward seeing our son for the first time in months with strangers, this was not.  They seemed like friends, which they certainly are now, that we hadn’t seen for a while and not strangers at all.  It’s rare but extremely gratifying to meet people who can make that almost instant transition from stranger to friend.  I felt a deep sense of contentment sitting next to my son and enjoying a nice meal with people I genuinely liked.  A magic Sunday, indeed. 

Time to Have Conversation with Daughter on Movie Recc's

Old Mill Restaurant - Wedding on the Right

Mill Pond Waterfall at Entrance

Son, Girlfriend and Wife Inside

Son and the Most Excellent Girlfriend

Newest Friends