Tuesday, Nov. 9 dawned and progressed like any other day. But in the Parker household, excitement increased hour by hour, minute by minute. Anticipation mounted as those hours and minutes crept by. At school I could sense my daughter, Gracie, squirming in her seat and
unable to contain her joy!
Several weeks earlier I had been contacted to attend a pre-release screening of Disney's newest animated film, "Tangled", based on the beloved fairytale, Rapunzel. Now this particular fairytale has been a favorite of mine since childhood. And I've been fond of Disney since the Davy Crockett days when I had a huge crush on Fess Parker!
But I digress...Gracie and I had been excited since Day One! Now it was zero hour and we were on our way! My friend, Cindy, was scheduled to go with us, but at the last minute her husband fell ill. So her friend, Janelle, decided to go! We were all set! We climbed in the car at 5:20PM allowing enough time(we thought!)for combating rush hour traffic and arriving at the requested time of 6:30PM for the movie start time of 7PM.
We were happy, thrilled, MapQuested and eager for the fun to begin!
RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC! The freeway was bumper-to-bumper, but we still held out hope because we had our trusty directions! Once we made it to Renton, we were positive we could find the theater! Gracie had been lulled to sleep in the back by the slow pace and warm car. So she had no clue as to the frantic conversation in the front seat.
The traffic was worse than usual. Who knows why! We were still on the road when 6:15 came and went. By 6:30 we made it to the exit ramp. Now we would only be a few minutes late! Onward and upward! We looked and looked at the directions again. Hunted for street signs! Stopped and called Janelle's husband to look up directions on his computer. Gracie snoozed. We turned around because her husband couldn't help us. We were on 10th St SW. Right where MapQuest kept shouting we should be for our destination of N. 10th Place!
Gracie woke up, complaining of a headache and that her tummy hurt. She wanted to go home. As we turned to head home, it dawned on both Janelle and me at the same time that being lost wasn't OUR fault! When we left the exit ramp, there was a NEW mall with a new theater. We WOULD have made it on time! So we arrived at the cinema at 6:55PM with a sick child who was begging to go home.
There is a warning in this tale: BEWARE OF MAPQUEST!
I am convinced that Gracie had carsickness. If we hadn't been held captive by erroneous directions she would have been bright-eyed and running into that theater!
Many thanks to Lindsay Randall for inviting us to another "Tangled" screening!
Destination: Tangled, Thursday Nov. 18!
"Tangled' opens Nationwide Nov.24!
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