New Year's Eve -- We're definitely getting old
New Year's Eve was fairly calm and collected. We thought about doing
something different such as going bowling or out dancing, but every place that offered
these types of diversions wanted at least $50 a couple.
Late in the evening we decided to go to the 10 o'clock showing of "The Golden
Compass."
We suspected that the movie would run past midnight and I wanted to make sure
that we watched the countdown to 2008 so I could give Tommy a big, wet kiss at
midnight.
While they ran commercials on the screen in the theater, I ran out into the deserted lobby of the movie theater to try to find out the exact time. My watch said 5 minutes before the hour, but my
watch often varies 7 minutes slow or fast.
I met up with a couple in the lobby who must have been visiting from Japan.
They had a watch but it was a serious test of my "charades" skills to decipher
weather they had accurate time. I did not bother to try to explain to them that
I had tried to call POP-CORN but that service is no longer available.
Watching a movie as the clock struck midnight wasn't exactly romantic. But my
watch has a light on it, so we squeezed each others' hands while the
countdown began (give or take 7 minutes) and shared a wet kiss at midnight.
About 15 minutes later the credits on the film began and Tommy yelled out a
jubilant "Happy New Year" to the eight other people who were in the movie
theater.
As we returned home, we could hear people still shooting off guns and
fireworks in our neighborhood.
My best friend next door and her son had the lights off, so we reminded them
of the obvious change in the calendar by banging pots and pans outside their darkened
bedroom window.
"Maybe we should go downtown, ..." Tommy pondered outloud.
"Why?"
"I don't know. Maybe to watch the cops pull people over or watch drunk chicks
try to walk in those high heels."
"We could," I said, considering it for a minute. "But someone might
accidentally hit us with their car."
We decided to stay home.