We drove about 30 minutes to get to the local science museum where there is an IMAX theater. When we got there we immediately noticed the crowds of children. At first I thought "Wow, it's going to be crowded." Then I thought that surely those kids, on a field trip from school, were simply visiting the museum not seeing the movie. We entered to buy tickets and discovered a sign saying that the 2pm showing was completely sold out!!! The Son's lip started to quiver, his eyes glossed over and began to shimmer as his body started to produce tears. His poor little heart was set on seeing this, his very first movie. I approached an employee and asked after the show. No, she confirmed, there were no tickets available, a large group had purchased nearly the whole theatre! I couldn't believe our luck. Holding my son, I hemmed and hawed over what I should do. I called The Husband. I decided I'd purchase tickets for another showing on Friday... this time we'd have the tickets in advance. The Son wasn't understanding that we couldn't go and only knew that Friday was a long way away. I approached another employee and explained our situation... that we had driven far to get there, it was my son's first movie experience ever and that we were really sad about not getting to see the movie. What a difference an employee makes. Whereas the first girl was unhelpful as could be and could care less, Mark, was extremely helpful and caring. He told me that, yes, a big group had bought much of the theatre but that they hadn't checked in yet and if we'd wait around until they did, perhaps they wouldn't have as many people as they'd reserved for. He offered to let us explore the museum while we waited free of charge. Fortunately, when the group checked in, yes, seats became available. Mark was so caring about The Son's feelings that he even gave us preferred entry (meaning we got to go into the theatre first) since we hadn't had a chance to wait in line behind the people already there and the 200 school children.

If you've never seen an IMAX, you definitely are missing something. This one was entitled Space Station and it was great. When the lights came down, The Son yelled "It's dark... I don't like this," but I held his hand and assured him the movie would make it light. If I could have captured the look on his face when the actual movie started in a place other than my mind's eye I'd be grateful. He was in awe. My hand was on his lap and when I went to move it, he moved it back and held it. He looked around, he looked at the screen (well, in an IMAX the screen is around you) and he was amazed. Then the first rocket launched... The IMAX camera had been at ground zero when the rocket launched so it caused all the sounds to be loud and the debris and flames to flick at the camera - it actually appeared that perhaps the camera lens broke and remember that you are *close* in an IMAX theatre, it's nearly 3D-like. The Son was scared. I brought him into my lap, I held his heart and he mellowed out but decided to sit on my lap for the rest of the movie. Each time a rocket was about to launch, he had me put my fingers in his ears so it wasn't so loud. All in all, he absolutely loved it. When it was over I said "So, what did you think?" He said "I liked it!" When I asked him what his favorite part was, he said "The rocket launches even though they were loud!" He hasn't stopped saying "5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Phhhhhhwwwwwwwwww" since we left.