So Wrong It's Right

Have you ever had one of those days where everything goes wrong but it all turns out in the end?  My Saturday was like that.

I invited my Dad to the movies on Saturday. We both wanted to see Red Tails, which started at the Magiplex theater at 3:20.  I got the time wrong and left to get him a few minutes late, and although we got to the theater on time, the movie was sold out.

"Let's get something to eat," my dad suggested. "We can come back."

"Wait a minute," I said, and got back in line to buy tickets for the next show at 6:30.

We walked out towards the car.  "What do you want to eat?"

"I dunno.  You choose," my dad said, "whatever you want."

Knowing my dad (whose wife died last summer after a battle with Alzheimer's) didn't get out to eat much, I was momentarily at a loss. "What about that nifty new gourmet pizza place?  They have artisanal beers and great entrees."

"OK. I have a $100 gift card. We can go anywhere."

As we were driving down to the pizza place, we approached the local high end Italian restaurant. "Well, we could always go there," I pointed.

"Yeah. Let's do that."

So we parked and went in. We ordered an appetizer platter that included calamari and bruschetta. My dad got a glass of wine. He had had a rough morning. It was nice to relax and chat.

The waitress came by with the menus and told us about the specials. Neither of us were interested in a 12 ounce steak (way too big), but we liked the scallops and lobster in Bernaise sauce with asparagus.

We ate like kings. I couldn't finish my dinner, but my dad was happy to take care of it for me. We both had dessert, and laughed and laughed.

The bill came - it was $94.00. My dad handed me the $100 gift card, and I pulled a ten dollar bill out of my purse to pay the rest of the tip.

We left the restaurant in high spirits, got to the movie theater early and presented our tickets, "You can go right in, the theater is clean and empty."  We decided to hit the rest rooms first, then found the perfect seats.  While we waited for the movie to start we played a game on my smartphone and kept giggling about how we certainly didn't need any popcorn.

Finally the movie started.  Remember, we're both expecting to see Red Tails, a movie about the Tuskegee Airmen in WWII.  When we saw an actor look at his cell phone I sneaked a peek at my tickets using my own cell phone as a flashlight.  Our movie was in theater 3. We were in theater 6.

I leaned over to my dad, "I think we're in the wrong theater. I think this is Mission Impossible."

"Well, make yourself comfortable and enjoy the show, we aren't moving now," my dad whispered.

So we did, both of us freaking out as one hair-raising stunt after another unfolded on the screen before us.

When the movie ended, we stood up slowly and stretched. After all I'm 57 with arthritis in my spine, and my dad's almost 80.  We looked at each other and started laughing.

Everything went wrong. We were late for the movie. We ate at the wrong restaurant, and somehow we ended up in the wrong theater, watching the wrong movie. "It's wrong, but it's right," my dad said.

"Nah," I replied, "It was perfect."

Even without the popcorn.