As we hurried into the movie theater after racing from the other side of town, we could finally relax a bit in what seemed like the never ending line to enter the auditorium. We weren’t in a rush because we were in danger of missing the beginning of the movie or even the previews. No, we were hustling so we could wait in line for at least an hour like any other respectable 12-year-old Star Wars fans. Because this wasn’t just any movie we were about to see. This was Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. This was going to be the most incredible cinematic experience of our young lives. And, heck, I really did enjoy it. That is until years later when I re-watched it and realized how bad the movie was (minus the totally sweet lightsaber fight). Anyways, I am getting off topic here. Where was I…
My best friend, Luke, and I were waiting in line with my mom and brother to finally experience seeing a brand new Star Wars movie on the silver screen. Knowing that this was a pretty epic event, I figured that the pop culture history books would cite this day as an extremely important one. I wanted to find a way to document it somehow. I wanted something that proved I was there. Something that I could show my grandkids one day and say, “Yup, I was a pretty damn big deal back then.” Then it occurred to me that I was holding that very evidence in my pocket with my movie ticket stub. As I fished it out of my pocket and gave it a good long look, I decided right then and there that this was going to be very valuable.
Now, the word “value” can have a few different meanings. And it turns out that that ticket stub would hold a different value to me than I had originally intended. At first, I thought I was going to sell it for like a zillion dollars, but, instead, it gave me a priceless idea that even a zillion dollars couldn’t buy.
After seeing another movie a week or so later, I saved that ticket stub too. And then I saved another. And so on and so forth. From that moment on, I saved my ticket stub from every single movie I saw in theaters. Not just the ones from what I deemed “epic” events.
Once I built up a nice fat stack of stubs, I even bought I binder and some of those plastic pages that are typically used to hold baseball cards. I placed those stubs in the pages in reverse chronological order, and I continue this ritual to this very day. I like placing them in that reversed order so it feels like I am traveling backwards in time with every turn of a page. It serves as my very own personal DeLorean (if you catch my meaning).
When I flip through the pages of this homemade book, I am reminded of all sorts of nostalgic anecdotes. The time we bought tickets to Count of Monte Cristo and then snuck into Super Troopers. Getting frustrated the week I turned 17 because I bought a ticket to an R-rated movie and they didn’t card me (those jerks!). Going on first (and most usually last) dates. Sneaking up behind a friend and scaring the bejesus out of her during a scary movie. Planting and using a remote-controlled “fart machine” on unsuspecting moviegoers. I could go on and on.
For anyone else, this is just a binder filled with small old pieces of fading paper. But to me, this is my most prized possession. It contains years and years of fun memories. Memories of laughter and memories of fright. Memories of wow and wonderment. Just plain old fashioned memories of growing up me.
This is the sort of value that I think I will hang on to.