On Monday night, I did something I've never done before. I went to a movie theater to watch a movie by myself. I write a sports column for a local newspaper and I’m writing my next article about a movie called Facing the Giants. I decided to write about the movie at the last minute (shortly before my deadline), so I didn’t have a chance to invite anybody to see the movie with me.
The movie started at 9:55 pm and I pretty much expected to be the only one in the theater. Right before the movie started, a couple walked in and sat down several rows in front of me. So, the three of us watched the movie (it was quite moving by the way—maybe I’ll post my column here after it runs in the newspaper) and I definitely felt out of place since I was there by myself.
I’ve gone to restaurants and coffee shops by myself many times. In fact, I don’t think much about it anymore. But something about seeing a movie by myself has never been appealing. Maybe it’s because I attend a lot of movies with friends and I can probably count the number of times on one hand that I’ve seen a person watching a movie alone.
Nothing monumental happened at this particular movie to make me want to run out and do it again, but by the end of the movie, I didn’t feel quite so out of place. I can’t really tell you why, but I think it was because the three of us saw a great movie and that gave us a common experience.
