Today is Father’s Day.
My own father passed away seventeen years ago. I miss him. The
father of my children, my husband of twenty-nine years (tomorrow is our
anniversary), is the object of my celebratory mood today. Four children is a whale-of-a-lot of
kids to clothe, feed, love, attend sporting events and concerts for, and meet
every other imaginable need. He
has done it all with uncomplaining steadfastness.
You should know that when it comes to celebrations, I am
Party Central. I feel that the
common day should be an excuse for uncommon festivities. An actual holiday?? Holy cow – look
out!! Mr. Dahl, however, is the
polar opposite. There are no
extraordinary days on his calendar.
Each day is just that – a day.
Oh, he takes me out for my birthday, and chooses sweet gifts for Christmas,
but he does these things because he knows they are important to me. When it comes to reciprocating for his
special days, all he ever wants is to NOT have a big deal made over him. He is so not into splashy extravagance.
So when I asked him what he would like for Father’s Day, I
knew before he responded what his answer would be. Nothing.
Zero. Nada. A big goose egg… I don’t know why I
continue to ask year after year.
The kids ask me (as they do every year), “What does dad want
for Father’s Day (or birthday, or Christmas)?” Well, I’ll be dogged if I know. I can read his thoughts from fifty paces, but I have no clue
as what little gadget or trinket might be meaningful to him. I have come to the conclusion that he
is truly the most contented man I have ever known. He does not feel he wants or needs anything of a material
nature. His favorite line used to
be, “I could new socks or underwear.”
OK, then socks and underwear it is. But he hoards them like the Great Tribulation is imminent,
so when the point came that he could barely close his dresser drawers due to
multiple unopened packages of J.C. Penney socks and underwear, we said “enough
already,” and went back to the drawing board.
Whatever my husband lacks in gift list-making skills, I more
than make up for. I generally hand
my loved ones a scroll with a wide range of price options and say, “I have
clustered them according to priority and circled my top three choices for your
convenience.” Gift giving for mom
is easier than falling off a ladder, but dad… well, dad provides a stiff
challenge.
Two major events occurred this weekend that were the Transit
of Venus of Father’s Day good fortune.
The first was an invitation from John’s sister to join them for a
Father’s day cookout at their house.
The second was the arrival in the daily mail of the work schedule for
the Wing Theater. Guess which
family got the luck of the draw for Father’s Day weekend??
Now, to my city folk readers, you may be a tad confused
about what it means to “work the theater.” If you have never visited the northern prairie of America,
then I need to provide a few very important foundational facts here. North Dakota is a big state in
landmass. We possess over 70,000
square miles AND YET, we are the third LEAST populated state in the nation,
with just under 700,000 in total population. To break those numbers down for the average layman: Big state -- lots of empty acres. What this means in terms of “things to
do on a Saturday night,” is… the average farmer has to get in the ‘ole Ford
pickup and drive ‘fer a spell to get anywhere.
Small towns have made stabs at keeping entertainment
local. Most every little
settlement has a bar, this is a given.
Beyond liquid entertainment, a few towns have successfully (or not)
tried to provide local fun. Many
try to keep the doors open to bowling alleys. In years past, roller rinks were quite popular. Somehow, my little enclave of Wing has
managed to keep its theater going, despite declining population. There are a few solid reasons for this
“success” story.
For one thing, the décor hasn’t been updated since (and this
is just a wild stab in the dark based on the orange color theme) sometime in
the mid-70’s. Industrial low-pile
carpet lines the top half of the sidewalls (for acoustic purposes, I am
sure). Dotted along these
carpet-lined walls are bare, orange light bulbs sticking out for dim lighting
when the overhead lights go out at the beginning of the movie. Big city THEE-aters have fancy lighting
on the plushly carpeted steps. We
moved ours up – a concept that will catch on everywhere, I have no doubt. It also helps with bug-infestation as
the outer doors are generally propped open for the duration of a summer movie
due to the smoking of the popcorn popper.
Another reason the Wing Theater keeps its Hollywood head
above water, is that there are no paid employees. Generally, a list is drawn up at the beginning of the movie
“season” (April through October), and is comprised of local families that take
turns running the theater for their given weekend. Running the theater means that you unlock the doors and prop
them open with the official door-propping rock that has probably been on the
stoop since the Civil War. You
then get the popcorn popper heating up (it takes a few minutes), open the
record-keeping notebook up where is recorded the beginning and ending ticket numbers
AND the winners of the free ticket draw, then sell tickets and concessions for
the duration of the movie. When
the movie ends, there is cleanup to be done, and this is really the worst part
of the effort. Sticky, spilled
soda and popcorn are not a good clean-up combination. The redeeming feature of the theater is, it still possesses
the hardwood floors from when it was also the town gymnasium, which makes
clean-up infinitely easier.
I am mistaken.
There is one paid employee.
The theater association hires a projectionist every season. This is a rather plum job for the
lucky high school kid that lands it every year. There are almost no job opportunities in our fair town, so
to find one is awesome, PLUS there is little actual work involved, PLUS you get
to watch the movie and eat concessions for free every weekend all summer
long. Win, win, and win!!
When the volunteer list first arrived in our mailbox, I was
a little disappointed that we were scheduled for Father’s Day weekend. But John wasn’t. No sir. He is so incredibly unconcerned about those sorts of
things. He is happy to take his
turn and it matters little what days that happens on. OK, if he’s cool with it, I guess I am too. The movie for our weekend? The Three Stooges. As one Facebook “friend” put it, “Yeah,
but what’s the movie??”
So the day was set in stone – church in the morning,
complete with hot brunch and the movie, “Courageous” (which I highly recommend
for every male on the face of the earth), a cookout for the entire Dahl
extended family at my sister and brother-in-law’s house, then off to the
theater for the evening.
So here’s how the responsibilities were divided: John always mans the popper (I don’t
know why, it is just how it is), Hannah took over working the fountain drink
machine and taking concession money, and me? I am the face of ticket sales. Yes, that’s right.
When they come in off the street, I am the one to greet them, hand out
tickets, take their money, make small talk, and this year, wish the guys “Happy
Father’s Day.” It is serious and
important work. It also gave me
the opportunity to see my Little Darlings from the school year as they filtered
through the door. My, oh my, how
they have grown! Smiling tanned
faces would pop up at the window and well, I just had to come around the corner
and exclaim over their shooting up like corn in the field and give a quick
hug. I had not realized how much I
miss them!
All went well in the Sales Department on the first night of
the movie. But then I watched
it. The movie, I mean. Have you seen this movie? Holy cow, it is TERRIBLE. I never was a huge Three Stooges fan
anyway, and I am not crazy about slapstick humor by and large, but this one….
Well, there are just no words.
Easily in the top three of worst movies I have ever seen. Easily!!
On Night Two, it was a crisis of conscience to take the poor
suckers’ money. I wanted to say,
“Just head over to the concessions window, buy some popcorn and go back
home. If you hurry you can catch
Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel.” But I didn’t. I
kept my mouth shut and smiled and encouraged them to “enjoy the show!” I really did not want to get transferred
to the Housekeeping Department. I
like Sales. I’d like to stay,
thank you very much.
Good thing too.
I saw on the official Wing Theater Facebook page that this weekend broke
the record for seasonal ticket AND concession sales. Apparently there are more Three Stooges fans than I had
realized and slapstick makes them really hungry and thirsty. Hooray! The Wing Theater survives for a while longer!!
So Happy Father’s Day to the man who made me a mother and
has faithfully shared this parenting journey with me. I love it that you are content with the gifts of shared
family time and sharing the box office of a dusty little theater in the middle
of nowhere on Father’s Day. It
says buckets about the sort of man you are and how you are able to celebrate
the Uncommon Day in a common fashion.
Life is pleasant and easy because you make it those things for your
family every day.
I love you, John Dahl.
Happy Father’s Day…
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I love the false-front buildings in this town -- so frontier!! |
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