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 Saturday Nights
As a child, I remember looking forward to Saturday nights when my father would take the entire family into the city for a nice dinner and a movie, sometimes even two movies back to back.
To begin each Saturday evening we would, as a family, vote to select one of our favorite restaurants. Most of the time we kids chose Italian or Chinese food. Dad didn't particularly like Italian food,
though he normally wouldn't say no to it if that was what the rest of us had our hearts set on. He always said, laughingly, that he agreed with the Italian food, it just didn't agree with him. Over dinner, we would discuss how our week
went and what was new in our lives. This was our way of reconnecting to each other after a long week of work, school and managing all the monotonous yet important duties that come with the busy lives of a family of five.
 After finishing our meal, we would make our way to the local movie house where together we'd decide which movie to see. We
would arrive at the theatre, buy our tickets and Dad would take us over to the concession counter and let each of us choose a snack. Then, we would find seats in the far back row of the theatre, Dad's favorite spot, and settle in to enjoy
the movie.
When the movie would end, we would climb in the family car and head home while discussing the movie on the way. Sometimes we'd all agree on an analysis of the movie; sometimes we wouldn't. However, no
matter the outcome of our critiques, we were always happy to have gone to see it because we were all together.
As I think of all the Saturday nights we spent together, memories of two different, yet very similar, Saturday nights come into my mind and remind me of how differently I have allowed certain types of
movies to affect me. These two Saturday nights were many years apart and many years ago, but nonetheless are still close enough in time for me to remember them as though they occurred only last week. These memories and my realization of
how I changed in the years between them have given me insightful views of my maturation and understanding of myself.
 The first of these memorable Saturday nights took place on a cool Saturday evening in the fall of 1982. My family and I had
enjoyed a wonderful meal at our most loved Chinese restaurant, The Dragon Inn. After dinner on the way to the theatre, we discussed, considering the fact that Halloween was only a few weeks away, possibly choosing a horror film. We
decided, unanimously, that we would see two films back to back, Poltergeist and The Thing, both horror films. I recall vividly the chilling suspense and spine-tingling fright produced by these two movies, each of which happen to have been
included on the list of highly acclaimed movies of that year.
On the way home, we told of our favorite scenes and the ones that startled us the most. I remember then asking my father if he was afraid of the dark after watching the movies. He answered me with a
definite tone. "No, Dads are never afraid," he said. I recall thinking, in my young mind of nine years, that if I was frightened by these horrifying movies, my father should have been afraid, too. I thought he was being brave
for me, and I was comforted that he had told me that he was not, in the least bit, frightened.
 In the summer of 1987, shortly after school let out, yet another of our great Saturday nights was upon us. The decision
was made by the entire family to have dinner at the Olive Garden Italian restaurant, and then proceed to the theatre to view a movie called Face To Face. Everything was going fine as the evening progressed. Dinner was tasteful and
fulfilling. The movie was encompassing and worthwhile, yet, even though it was also a thriller and of the same caliber, it did not produce the same uneasy and formidable effect as the two previously mentioned movies had 5 years prior. As
I walked out of the movie theatre, I thought about how a few years of growing older and maturing could completely alter the way a person is affected by certain things.
In the weeks following this revelation of understanding, I began to appreciate my new maturity and was enlightened by it. Things seemed clearer, and I began to understand the perceptions of my newfound
awareness. I learned that I had grown as a person, psychologically, emotionally, physically and perhaps, spiritually since that cool, fall Saturday night in 1982.
Saturday nights were very important to each and every one of us. Since we weren't able to spend much time together during the week, Saturday nights helped bring the members of our family closer together.
Later in life, I hope to incorporate this tradition in my own family and with my own children. I believe spending quality time with my family as a child gave me a strong foundation from which I gained support and self-value. I am very
appreciative of the Saturday nights we as a family spent together. Those treasured memories I have of them will remain with me always.
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