When I was in sixth grade, I had a slumber party on Halloween night. After trick or treating and pigging out on candy, we ran to the basement, changed into PJs and crowded around our little TV. We flipped through the channels – only a few of them, because this was well before satellite TV and cable packages with a trillion options – and my friends landed on the movie, Carrie.

I said no. No, we can’t watch this. Let’s not watch this. My parents wouldn’t want me to watch this. I don’t want to watch this.

My friends overruled me, and I sat with my back to the television until it was over (tears rolling down my face in typical dramatic adolescent fashion, of course).

Four years later I sat in my friend’s basement at a New Year’s Eve slumber party, and the very same scene played out again. This time the movie was Leprechaun, but the argument – and the outcome – was pretty much identical. I spent two hours of that slumber party with my back to the TV, clenching my jaw and wishing I could cover my ears without looking like a total baby.

What’s annoying about those situations {I mean, on top of the fact that my friends didn’t care if I was scared.} is that even now, all these years later, I can still see images from both of those movies. The split seconds I didn’t have my back turned, those horror movies were seared into my brain.

Hmmm . . . Just like the single episode I watched of X-Files . . . at yet another slumber party. Clearly slumber parties were bad for me!

Scary movies aren’t the only thing that stick in my mind, though. And that’s why I’m staying home tonight.

Earlier this week I was invited to a girls night out with some of my very favorite ladies. I rarely get to see them because, for one reason or another [also known as lack of evening childcare], I miss almost every get-together they plan. We usually manage to schedule a scrapbooking day every few months and I make it then, but we haven’t even done that lately. So when I saw a message pop up in Facebook inviting me to a girls night out, I was excited, to say the least.

Then I read the proposed game plan for the night, and I realized that once again, I’d be missing my friends. Why is that? Because they’re going to see Magic Mike.

Don’t worry. I’m not about to launch into a soapbox sermon here. Partly because I don’t really do that sort of thing. Partly because I ADORE my friends and am not judging their movie choices in any way. And partly because I really want to see Magic Mike.

There. I said it.

Yeah, I know. It’s a movie about male strippers. I know. But based on the preview, it looks like it actually has a good storyline, and it’s gotten good reviews. And, hello? Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Bomer and Channing Tatum? Yes, I want to see the movie.

I want to see the movie, but I’m not going to.

Although, to be more accurate, I probably want to see the edited-for-TBS version, the cleaned-up version, the PG-13 version. I’m as big a wimp about nudity as I am about gore and violence.

But honestly, I could probably deal with my squeamishness. Or close my eyes like I did when I used to watch Grey’s Anatomy. (I’ve come so far from my days of turning my back on the TV, right?) What I couldn’t deal with are the lingering images I would never be able to erase from my mind, even if I wanted to (which is debatable, which is yet another reason I should stay home!).

For some reason my brain holds onto things that bother me, either in a horrified and terrified sort of bothered or the other kind of bothered. And I’m pretty sure that I don’t want my brain holding onto the things in this particular movie.

“Pretty sure” because I’m human, people. Human and easily bothered and bummed to miss another girls night out.

I am hoping to meet up with my friends after the movie, although I’m at the mercy of my husband’s work schedule. If I get to see them, they’ll probably tell me how awesome the movie was, and I’ll probably feel left out and a tiny bit disappointed I didn’t see it. But a week from now, a month from now, 10 years from now, I won’t still be thinking about what I saw in that movie that bothered me. I might still remember Carrie and the pig’s blood and the screaming and the – good grief, why did my friends make me watch that? – but this time, I’m skipping the slumber party movie.

That’s why I’m staying home tonight. It doesn’t mean you should stay home or avoid any movie, including this one. We’re all bothered by different things, and our minds and hearts hold onto and struggle with different things. [And it certainly doesn’t mean I walk away from everything that tempts me. If that were the case, the pan of brownies in my kitchen would have a lot more brownie and a lot less pan right now!]

What about you? Have you ever skipped the slumber party to avoid a movie – or TV show or book or whatever – that would bother you?

For another take on this topic, read Kristina’s post at Redefining Awesome.

What should you watch next?

 

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