Date Night... The 4-D Experience, Rain Ponchos Included

***Attention!! There might be a few spoilers about “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” I do, though, attempt to be somewhat vague ***


My husband is a good sport. No, that description doesn’t do him justice. He is amazing.

This picture was taken before we had our date. Needless to say, I did not look like this when the night was over.

The date was a simple one. I like simple. We would go to a nice hibachi grill and see a pleasant movie. Who wouldn’t like that? I pulled out all the stops, even getting my hair chopped off. Yes, I also attempted the dreaded fake eyelashes**. After forty minutes of gluing, applying, removing, and then re-applying (that’s just the eyelashes), I was perfect. We got in the car and headed off to our destination.

** Side note, if your husband doesn’t notice that you cut your hair and you point it out to him, he might feel guilty for the remainder of the evening. Please remember that he just might over compensate for noticing the rest of your appearance. We got in a minor accident because he was looking at my fake eyelashes. But! This is not what the story is about.**

Just as I had hoped, dinner was amazing. Who doesn’t like people making your food right in front of you and having it taste simply delectable?

The movie was another story.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie. I am actually reading the book now, and I am enjoying that too. But, I usually don’t subject myself to things that might make me cry in public. Problem? I usually can only shed small, delicate tears for a short time – then the flood gates open. This is the very reason I have not seen Marley and Me or My Sister’s Keeper.

Before I saw the movie, there were already signs that The Time Traveler’s Wife might make me cry - but I think I was in denial.

#1 Sign When I Should Have Realized That I Would Cry During the Movie: I was tearing up during a 30 second commercial! How did I not see it coming?

The movie started off slow, but I felt good. We got to see a some what constant Henry visiting the ever aging Clare and the evolvement of their current day love. (Yay!) There were several funny parts during the first hour of the movie, and Justin said that it didn’t feel like a chick flick as there was “guy stuff” in it too. We were having a great time.


Then, during the second hour of the movie, a bomb shell is dropped. Again, should have realized “it” sooner – but maybe I was in denial. Why couldn’t Clare and Henry just live a normal, happy life? Well a normal life - despite the weird genetic condition that Henry has which causes him to fall back or go forward in time without his control. That’s not a big deal, right?

The movie moves pretty quickly at the half way point, as well as the burning in my eyes. I thought if I just kept breathing, I would get through this. I could walk out of the theater, no tears, with a smile on my face. Note to self: as the movie points out, one cannot change the inevitable.

During one especially poignant scene, Henry and Clare are having a good old time until a future Henry drops in (no pun intended.) It was at this moment that I felt the tears. Not that these particular minutes are extremely sad, but we have been given a tiny view of the future – where the movie would be headed. Justin tells me to be strong, and I just nod my head. If only he knew what would happen after a prolonged crying spell.

As the movie pushes forward, there is now a point of no return, for both me and the direction of the film. The viewers know what’s going to happen – yet there is no way to stop it. This is much like the issue Henry must face his entire life. Henry tends to travel to times that his mind has doted on, such as his mother’s death. No mater how many ways he tries to intervene, it turns out that those interventions played a role in the inevitable. Kind of confusing, huh?

Anyway, I have never cried so hard at a movie. Scene after scene, one by one, characters begin to develop a sense of realization of what will soon happen. I cry for their pain, their attempt to live a normal life when the future cannot be changed, and the actual event that has been played before their eyes and ours multiple times.

Well, by the end of the movie I have quite successfully transitioned from a simple tear shed to the full out “ugly cry.” The “ugly cry” consists of the inability to catch ones breath, snot pouring from the nose, and tears so hard that the screen isn’t even viewable.

When the screen went dark, I took a deep breath and sat in silence with my husband. He waited for a few minutes, until he thought my emotional storm had cleared, and then turned to face me.

“Are you all right?” He asks. All right? I ponder this for a moment. Without warning, the last 10 minutes of the movie flash before my eyes and the tears start rolling down my face again.

“What did I say?” Justin is worried. Maybe this movie has made his wife become mentally unstable. With blurry eyes, I mumble something about the bathroom and try to make my way through the throngs of crying women (and some men too.)

I get to a mirror and look at myself. I looked scary. Down right scary. My eye lashes were partially hanging off my eyelids, make up and mascara dripping down my face; my eyes were blood shot and my face was splotchy. I gasped. In a matter of hours, I had gone from picture perfect to a mad woman that looked like she had decided to do her makeup at night, outside, during a heavy rainstorm without any sleep.

After washing my face in the bathroom, I found Justin and made a bee line to the car. He never asked why we were practically running out of the theater nor did he ever make a comment about my post movie face. Kissing me in the car, he told me that he had had a good date night and that he loved me. Amazing.

If you plan on seeing this movie, please don’t make the same mistakes I did.
* Bring Tissues
* Wear minimal make up, and make sure it is water proof
* Be ready to cry.
* Don’t look at the movie attendants. I am positive they are recording the reactions of people leaving the theater for future entertainment.

Like I said, it was a good movie and I would recommend it to anyone. It just isn’t a happy – go- lucky kind of flick. How can it be when you can’t change the future? Boo -