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| Father's Day cake by Jim, The Photographer, via Flickr.com |
At church this morning, Pastor Andy said in his sermon that he had been at St. Andrews Lutheran Church long enough that he has used up all the great stories of his father. So he told us one about a parishioner in his first church. Lilian* was in her 70s when she told Pastor the story, so he thinks the story took place in the early 1920s.
Lilian grew up in a very strict household. Her mother preached against playing cards, dancing, and going to movies, fearing that her daughter being involved in such activities would lead her astray. But Lilian, being a typical teenager of any decade, had a streak of rebellion in her. Not wanting to lie to her mother, Lilian stretched the truth a bit, telling her mother she was going to a friend's house for the evening. It was just stretching the truth because Lilian did go to her friend's house. But then she and her friends went to the cinema.
It was Lilian's first trip to see a movie, so she was very excited. Once she and her friends got settled in their seats, Lilian was surprised by a tap on her shoulder, but even more surprised when she turned around and saw her father in the seat behind her. In an instant, Lilian figured out what had happened. Her father had seen her with her friends as they were buying their tickets, but instead of approaching her outside the cinema, he decided to make the lesson larger by allowing Lilian to spend her money on the ticket and refreshments. Lilian didn't have much money, so when her father finally demanded that she pick up her purse and come out of the cinema with him, the lesson would really hurt.
But that's not what her father said. Instead, he said "I won't tell if you won't tell." Lilian remained in her seat in the row with her friends while her father remained behind her. And Lilian realized after that day that her father would always have her back.
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| Pinocchio by turbulentflow, via Flickr.com |
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| Swiss Family Robinson book by kayray via Flickr.com |
A few years later Dad took several of us to see The Swiss Family Robinson. That one also had a few frightening moments in it, like a scene where one of the boys was caught in a giant spider's web, but I was old enough not to let the the frightening scenes distract me from the rest of the story. After we got home from the movie, Dad teased us about the movie. He asked us if we thought it was a good story or a true story. We all said it was both. But Dad insisted it was either a good story that wasn't true or a true story that wasn't good. I think I realized he was right, but I really wanted it to be a good story that was true.
I asked Dad not long ago how he met Mom. I expected him to tell me about the moment he first saw her across a room because I thought everyone would remember that point in time when they saw their love for the first time. Instead, Dad said he couldn't remember. He said he had always known who she was. Both his family and hers used to go to watch movies that were projected against one of the buildings downtown in Hitterdal, a precursor of outdoor movie theaters like the Starlight and Moonlight in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
Dad used to take us to movies at an outdoor movie theater now and then, especially when the entry price was per car, not per person. I always enjoyed those nights, even though I heard Dad complain to Mom about what went on in the other cars. I didn't know what he was talking about. I always watched the movies. I never looked at what went on in the other cars.
*a name, not necessarily the right one
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