Still More Summer Vacation

In my search for the old, the traditional, and the nostalgic, my husband and I stumbled across the Vintage Drive In in Avon, NY (Please pronounce Avon with a short A.). For $8.00 each we were able to watch Johhny Dep make a fool of himself trying to impersonate John Dillinger. The movie was unspeakably boring but the surroundings were incredibly evocative of a time or at least a condition that really was kinder and gentler. We chose to see the "adult" film because we have no small children left at home. However, the drive in was packed with families lining up to see Ice Age 3 and the families were in many ways more interesting than the films themselves.

I miss drive-in movies. They were a place where whole families came out and brought their children at 7:00 pm for a film that started at 9:00. This meant that dozens of pajama clad kids would crowd into playgrounds and wear themselves out for two hours before the film began. Mom and Dad would buy popcorn, corn dogs, and sodas just before the movie started and there would be a stampede back to the cars, with all the kids yelling "The movie's starting!" After about ten minutes of advertising for the refreshment stand, the main feature began and the youngest children immediately fell asleep. Their older siblings followed about an hour later. This left Mom and Dad an additional hour or two to just sit in the car, eating popcorn and left over corn dogs, and maybe hold hands, perhaps even kiss once or twice. The drive in was a place where parents could date--with their children. We don't really have places like the drive in any more.

Today if a couple with kids wants to go to a movie after dark they must get a baby sitter. At the going rate of $10.00 per hour for the sitter, $11.00 per ticket, $20.00 for snacks, even a night out at the movies will cost about $70.00--an amount that not many parents with small children can afford very often; also not the most glamorous evening. Today's young people must spend a lot if they want to have what is now touted as a good time. Good times consist of expensive meals, drinks, dancing, and a cab ride home. Nights like these run several hundred dollars and occur rarely (if ever) in many people's lives. I believe that this leads to a sense of disappointment and disenchantment of the sort that is called "Everyone is having more fun that me." Given the fact that families no longer have many outlets for simple pleasures, and a media that bombards us with "reality show stars" (supposedly ordinary people) spending thousands on a good time, is it any wonder that families have morphed into something other than what we once knew?

This week's Time magazine has an article on infidelity and its effect on marriage. While I agree that infidelity is a chronic problem for the American family and will write more on this tomorrow, I also think that we have simply lost a great deal of our ability to have fun with our spouses, and to appreciate them for the good people they are--or we thought they were when we married them. More on this tomorrow. Peace and go kiss your significant other.