Smelling the Roses

Every 12-18 months Pixar releases a new movie, we wait for each with great anticipation. (They are the only movie studio I would even dream about taking the family to without previewing the movie myself.) And their newest, Ratatouille, is every bit as fine a film as their previous six.

But, every attempt to stop all of our busyness and do something together seems to be assaulted. It's all well and good to spout sayings like "stop and smell the roses", but doing it actually involves some determination.

And as if to test that determination, we turned into the Theater lot and went through one of the many, nasty construction zones in Bluffton. The front left tire grazed something that pierced the sidewall. We could all hear it hissing, and it was only about 100 feet before we were on the rims. So what to do?

Well, we had come to see a movie and that's what we were going to do. The tire wasn't getting any flatter. So we left it, forgot all about it and plunged into the darkened theater for one of the greatest cinematic experiences ever.

Each child had his or her own seat, and Molly and Andrew snuggled together next to me for most of the picture. Wonderful for the kids, wonderful for the adults, we still don't have the confidence to take the dog.

And, after the flickering masterpiece was complete, Emily took the kids home in the other car (which, we happened to have with us) while I stayed to install the "donut" (which we also happened to have with us). And it was with great joy that I changed tire and drove home reflecting on how a flat had completely failed to ruin our evening. Even changing the tire itself felt like stopping and smelling the roses. And the movie...? Delicious!