HEY! I know its a table!

Late this afternoon we went to the movies to see “UP”…in Spanish! To know how good a movie really is, trying watching it in a foreign language. This movie kicked butt and I have no idea what was said. Well I think the movie kicked butt. Maybe, just maybe, it was enhanced greatly by the movie theater.

Me and my girls went to the “other side of the tracks” today. That part of Managua is not big…trust me. THIS side of the tracks is much bigger. The movie played at the Gallerias mall. I knew something was up when we got out of our taxi and I saw a GUESS store! The people walking around the mall were very well dressed, there were a number of very nice restaurants and a multiplex theater that puts Brambleton to shame (sorry for the local reference "out of towners"). The first amazing feature was the fact they had a VIP Room, yes, VIP Room! I looked at the price for the VIP room and it was $7 for adultos and $5 for ninos. In Managua that is a lot of money for a movie. But hey, we are Americanos, so I sprung for the seats.

We walked into the actual screening room and immediately saw a VERY large screen and about 50 “chairs”. Now let me describe the “chairs”. BIG, LEATHER chairs that I would buy for our house. These chairs were, well, unbelievable. Then I saw the waiters. Okay, was I at FedEx field in the sky suite section? You want food? They get it for you. You want drinks? They get it for you. You have to go to the bathroom? Well I didn’t try that out, but I am betting you that…oh never mind! Oh yeah…AIR CONDITIONING!!!! And the fact that it was about 100 degrees here today, I thought maybe I had died and was sitting in the “Big Guys” home theater! Between each chair were side tables for your food and drink.

Side note…when I first went in, it was kind of dark. I put Martita in one seat, skipped what I thought was another seat, and put Lucie in her seat. I was planning on sitting between them. I sat down and it seemed a little hard to the tushy. But for about 5 minutes I sat like a proud papi between my girls…eating my popcorn and settling in for the movie. When I looked over and saw a waiter put food on a “table” across the aisle I realized I was sitting on the table! I am sure the local “other side of the track” Managuan’s thought “What is that crazy Americano doing”?!? So I stood up, acted like I was stretching and then scooped Lucie up and basically threw her one more seat over and flopped into my cushy arm chair. The only bad thing about the movie was finding out AFTER the movie was over that the chairs had kick out foot stools…they were recliners HEELLLOOO! Ugh…I missed out on that one.

What struck me though, through this whole experience, was the fact that my sitting on the table was not the only thing that made people stare. After the movie we walked out into the food court. Boy, did we get some stares. We were out of place for sure. Here we were, inter-racial families (two other families went with us) clearly from the “other” side of the tracks. The people were nice and everything but the stares made me feel way out of place. At times I wanted to go up to people and say, HEY, you should see my neighborhood back in the states. Or, yeah I have a job and so does my wife. But mainly I just wanted to say, please don’t make us feel so different, I want my girls to keep their innocence about our world. I want them to believe we are all equal…men, women, black, white, brown. I want them to know that even if we don’t have what you have, or look all the same, we are good people. This experience really made me think about how many times I MIGHT have made other people feel uncomfortable, how many times I stared, how many times I felt like I was better than others. Hey, I am not saying I meant to do it…EVER…but I am not sure that matters to the “PEOPLE” on the receiving end. So maybe not only did I see a great movie tonight, but maybe I learned how to be a better person in the process. For the kids of the families I interface with on a daily basis…I sure hope so.

Only one more day without the love of my life…YES!!!!! Thanks for always supporting us with your prayers and words of encouragement…you guys are AWESOME!