It’s Mother’s Day, and I’ve just celebrated brunch and bottomless mimosas with my family on this bright spring Sunday. I have one last card to open, and it’s from my husband. Inside, it says, “We’re going to the movies to see Guardians of the Galaxy and have dinner out.” I giggle with glee because anyone who knows me well knows I’m a huge fan of Guardians of the Galaxy and have been lamenting how I’ve not had time to see it in the theater yet. So, yes, this was an appropriate Mother’s Day gift.
It’s all things bright and sunny as we pull into the Lakeport Cinema parking lot. The outside wall of the cinema hangs pictures of upcoming movies that will grace the screen in the near future. Ahead are a row of black glass doors. And in this moment, an alternate reality is about to begin. It goes something like this:
There is a set of black glass doors, unlike any others. Oh, you’ve seen doors like these everywhere you go, but what’s behind these particular doors brings a new state of mind to your everyday life unlike any other.
The door opens, and inside the world as you know it washes away like spring rain on a dusty car. The sound of popping popcorn fills your ears and nose as you breathe it fully into your senses. It’s all-consuming. You inhale a little deeper, and suddenly the stress and worries outside the black glass doors vanish into thin air.
Now there is popcorn everywhere, outside, in the real world. You know the kind I’m talking about. But there’s literally no popcorn that quite compares to movie theater popcorn.
A little lighter on your feet and in your spirit, you assume your place in line to buy your tickets and popcorn, of course. You’re guaranteed to recognize at least one person as you wait in line because, hey, this is Lake County, and there are only two theaters to choose from, not thirty.
After a brief chit-chat, the anticipation continues to build. Oh, you have an idea of what to expect, but the excitement of the unknown drives in the anticipation, and your happy face blends into the line of other happy faces.
With movie tickets in hand, anything is possible!
Rows of chairs present themselves in the dimly lit theater. You choose your seat, and to your surprise, there’s more legroom than you remember, and do these seats rock? Why yes, they do! It’s easy to settle into oblivion as you stretch your legs as far as they wish and you lean back into comfort in the still new chair experience.
You almost forget about your popcorn until you hear the rustling of paper bags and the audible crunching of kernels. You join in the chorus.
Moments pass before your favorite and greatly anticipated actors and characters fill the enormous screen, coupled with the high performance of the full movie surround sound experience.
And finally, it’s happening. The anticipation is now met with reality, or rather an alternate reality that, for this moment, you believe is real. It’s fantasy land, make-believe, full of what-ifs, and you step in and believe it wholeheartedly because, in this reality, you can.
It’s all real, so real, and happening right in front of you. It’s an illusion for the imagination and a vacation for the rest of your mind. It’s strangely life-giving, fulfilling, and something we will want to experience over and over again because it’s real. It’s as real as you and me because we’ve decided to it will be, at least for as long as it lasts.
Until next time Lakeport Cinema and Drive-in! And thanks for keeping it real.
52 Soda Bay Rd.
Lakeport, CA 95453
(707) 263-4215
