"Stupid movie!" sniff, sniff

We took the kids to see a movie yesterday at the Carnival theater, Toy Story 3. It was kind of a big deal for the family, we never go to the movie theater, mainly for the reason that we're leery of how Ryder will act. But a few months ago, Ardan was invited to a friend's bday party at the Silver Lake Cinema to see Shrek 4, and siblings were invited as well. And Ryder did really well during that movie, stayed in his seat the entire time, eyes glued to the screen as he happily munched on popcorn. So I was pretty sure he'd do well at this movie. And other than a few seat-switching moments and one super-annoying frantic trip to the potty where nothing came out, he was fine.

No, what this post is about, is ME.

So there we were, 3/4 of the way through the movie. Through a series of hair-raising events, the toys had ended up at the city dump, where they'd escaped the dump version of a wood-chipper, only to find themselves utterly hopeless as they neared the lava-like incinerator. Realizing that this was it, no way out or hope for escape, the toys all clasped hands and gazed meaningfully at each other. It was a super-emotional moment and the entire theater was silent.

Little Lena chose that moment to glance at me, and in her high-pitched, too-loud-for-the-situation voice, piped up, "Mom, why are you CRYING!??"

I could feel the parents around us swivelling in their seats to look at me. Talk about mortifying.

So needless to say, the toys are saved by a last-minute rescue ("The CLAW!"- and that's all I'll say about it), the movie ended happily, though tearfully, yet again, as Andy makes the momentous decision to pass along his 'best friend Woody' to another child. And there I was, again, trying to hide my tears and eye-wiping. Lena knew though, but at least she restrained herself and only shook her head at me.

'Just you wait', I thought as we left the theater, 'I'm going to find the most heart-wrenching, tear-jerking movie and make you kids watch it, then I'm going to examine your faces and the moment I spot a tear, "A-HA!" with the finger-pointing. "I'm not the only one!"'

Stupid movie!