It was an innocent miscalculation. Honestly, it was. Taking seven grandchildren to the movies seemed like a good idea at the time. That is, right up to the point where I was laying on the couch with a stomach ache, and my daughter walked into the room.
Then she smacked my knee and scolded–you’re grounded.
Ok. So, this is how it went down.
It was spring. The local theater had a free Saturday morning matinee of second run movies for kids. My oldest daughter asked me if I could babysit that morning.
Sure! I thought. We’ll just go to the movies. I haven’t taken all of my grandchildren to the theater before–this could be fun. I’ll invite the whole crew.
I had two of my adult children bring our grandchildren to the theater. We would just meet there.
After raising nine children of my own– I admit it I’m really cheap. So, I brought along the biggest bag of M&Ms I could find. And, yes, I smuggled in a two-liter bottle of soda–along with double the amount of cups I needed.
As I said, I had a plan.
With a teenaged daughter by my side, who came along for extra muscle, we lined up the children. All seven of them sat between us. I did, purchase a huge, refillable bucket of popcorn.
Each child got two cups. A cup of soda, and a cup of popcorn. Upon which, I topped with M&Ms. Picture a sort of assembly line. When I was handed a cup with a lid, I filled it with soda. If an empty cup came across my lap, I filled it with popcorn–and topped it with M&Ms.
In my defense, it was dark. I had no idea how many candy topped popcorn, or soda pop cups I filled–let alone who drank them. We were having a marvelous time.
There were no complaints. To tell the truth, I don’t even remember any bathroom runs. How amazing is that? I’d like to see a young parent pull that one off.
As I was saying, we were having a great time. It’s just that I forgot one small detail. You see, the matinee started at 11:00 am. Which means it went over the lunch hour.
So, there I was, lying on the couch holding my stomach. When my daughter walks in and asks, “Did you feed the children lunch?”
According to their mothers, I fed the children a ton of candy, popcorn and soda pop for lunch. That was just the luck of the draw. Certainly, not intentional.
Come on, who plans a meal of popcorn and M&Ms?
Apparently Grandma.
