somebody pinch me

I still feel like I must be dreaming.
I actually sat in a cinema...
and watched a movie...
with real movie popcorn and real fountain Barq's...
in the presence of the real Kevin...
but on a Thursday...
or was it just a dream?
I do have a very active imagination.
I have been known to pretend someone gave me a gift, when that item was actually something I bought for myself.
I have even had dreams that seemed so real that I wanted to return to them again and resume the romance in them.
Ah, yes, dreams keep me going some days, especially those with kissing and dancing.
(smile)
So, I could have dreamt the whole thing up...
I could have...
but I didn't.
i thank You, God, for photos i take to keep reality separate from dreams.
Given the movie tonight, that's important.

Here's the physical proof about the trip to the cinema.
There's still popcorn in my 2020 AMC Cinema popcorn bucket.
I last had it filled with their tasty treat back in March.
That's right - March 12th.
That was exactly one hundred sixty-eight days before today,
twenty-four weeks earlier.
Seems absurd, I know, to go so long without the buttery taste and delicious crunch of movie popcorn.

But that's the way it's been since the cinemas all shut down, closed for pandemic.
2010's "Inception" was the perfect movie as my first one sitting in a real cinema screening room, in a real cinema seat...
but I felt that it was a dream the entire time...
even while wearing my real mask.
If not for Kevin sitting beside me, periodically commenting on some event onscreen, I might have lost touch with my tether.

In a way, the mask served as my token of reality, even though I had not consciously chosen it as that before leaving home.
No, tonight I had taken care to be color-coordinated for a change, something I rarely do.
The ocean-themed mask, one of two I designed and bought (from snapfish) for my birthday62, has that lovely starfish that exactly matched this shirt from a past Gray's Reef Film Festival.
Those are both very real to me -
and this photograph, with today's date, from my phone, is also very real -
as is the dated receipt from El Potro for dinner -
as is the dated receipt from AMC Cinema Classic 11 for the movie -
as was the unique smell in Kevin's car, Opal, as I rode from the restaurant to the cinema and then back to the restaurant to retrieve my car and return to midtown.
All were so real...
but those three hours in the cinema still feel like a dream.
Maybe I'll believe in the morning, with the movie ticket still on my coffee table.
Maybe.
I have found the light of day to be excellent for dispelling dreams.
(smile)