Tonight my grandson Dayan and I had the joy of journeying through Middle Earth again. Fathom Events is hosting the extended editions of all three Hobbit movies, at our local theater. Tonight was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of the trilogy.
I have written several blog posts about the impact the Tolkien stories have had on my life. So I will not go into detail about the movie, except to say, every time I watch The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, I see something new, something fresh. My heart and soul expands because of the bigness of the story and I am inspired to live a larger life because of that expansiveness. Like Bilbo, I long for adventure and a significant role in a meaningful story. I love that toward the end of An Unexpected Journey, Bilbo, who has already experienced growth because of his adventure, says that he is not a hero, not even a burglar, which is what the Company sees him as. Bilbo is himself, and for the first time in his life, he is discovering exactly what that means.
Dayan and I enjoyed the additional footage, 20 extra minutes of Middle Earth goodness. The majority of those extra scenes were in Rivendell, which made me smile. My grandson and I discussed the symbolism of Rivendell and many other deeper truths behind Tolkien’s epic stories, a conversation that I enjoyed as much as the movie, which is saying a great deal.
There was an on screen trivia game to play, as the minutes ticked down to show time. We only missed one question, out of 20, and had fun testing our knowledge. Most of all this evening, I enjoyed spending time with this remarkable young man, who so graciously accompanied me on this adventure. We chatted. And we laughed. A lot.
Not knowing how many people would be in attendance, we arrived early, and discovered we were the first arrivals. The theater was already in semi darkness. We attempted to take a selfie, to commemorate our evening, and the hilarity began. My first selfie looked like this, after much editing:
Dayan did better with his phone, except we discovered that selfies in the dark cause the flash to come on, and it is difficult to keep your eyes open when the light flashes in your face. Each pic sent us into peals of laughter.
I experienced a first today. I resorted to using a cane to help me walk easier, as my left leg is healing from a very inflamed sciatic nerve. I warned Dayan that I had a cane tonight, so he wouldn’t be concerned or surprised. After making sure I was going to be okay, and that the cane wasn’t a permanent accessory for me, he gently and relentlessly teased me about it the rest of the evening. From threatening to buy me a life alert necklace in case I “fell and couldn’t get up”, to including the cane in a selfie, to rescuing my cane when I fumbled and dropped it, Dayan’s good natured ribbing raised my spirits and reminded me that in the largeness of my life, this is a small matter. I appreciate him so much and I am grateful that we travel together on our current adventure. We look forward to the next two movies, Wednesday evening and next Tuesday, when we will see the extended edition of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies for the first time. I hope by then the cane is parked in a corner. If not, perhaps I’ll trade it for a staff, like Gandalf has.
