Written By Emily
We were beyond thrilled to hear that Chloe chose Michael & me to see The Wizard of Oz with her at the theater. We are the movie people in our families, it would seem, & we are completely okay with this!
Michael & I have had long conversations about this, & where our love of watching movies has come from. While both of us are storytellers & love all different formats, really our love of movies has come from family members. For Michael, it was his father. For me, it was my grandmother.
Saturday matinees with my grandmother were a regular treat. Some of my fondest memories of her involve us at the movies or talking about movie reviews.
The memories I have of arriving at & sitting in various movie theatres around the Twin Cities, some no longer in existence, some now remodeled, & some have stayed exactly the same.
Spirited Away is my favorite Ghibli film not just because it is an incredible movie, but because I have a tangible memory of seeing it in theatres with my Grandmother. Where we sat & the act of looking up at the big screen.
I remember sitting through the first Lord of the Rings at the Highland Park Theatre, where she would lean over from time to time & offer her hand in case I was scared. (I wasn’t, but looking back, I think she might have been.) — I heard my grandmother’s voice as I made this offer to Chloe before the movie started today.
I will never forget when my grandmother suggested we go see The Grudge instead of whatever movie we did end up seeing (I think it was Shall We Dance?). 🤣 (Don’t worry, we did NOT go see the Grudge.)
& let us not forget the juice boxes & hard candies! I almost told Michael to stop at the store before the movie to pick some up… almost. (They would have 100% been for me.)
I will always cherish the memories I have with my grandmother, & I am beyond honored to create these new memories with her — today was a definite core memory for me. seeing Chloe get excited and react and respond to the movie on the big screen was priceless.
There’s no place like the movies with people we love.