As a young child, the best day of the week was definitely Saturday. My eyes would pop open before 7am. Jumping out of bed, I would run downstairs to the television to tune into the most anticipated cartoon of the morning. The cartoon starred 3 hip, vocally gifted rodents with a singing career and a father figure manager named Dave. Who could resist watching and sometimes singing along with the chipmunks as they belted out familiar songs of the 80’s? Yep, “Alvin and the Chipmunks” was a household favorite. Alvin, the middle chipmunk, was a demonstration in cunningness and creativity. His crazy schemes often landed the 3 chipmunks in many daring circumstances. Of course, Simon’s logical nature regularly made good of the bad, making for an entertaining plot. Oh, and Theodore? Theodore was plump, sweet hearted and in complete acceptance of his round body. Being a somewhat pudgy 9-year-old child myself, I really connected with his aptitude for accepting himself, rolls and all.
This past December, when news of the newest “Alvin and the Chipmunks, Get Your Squeak On” movie reached my ears, I endorsed the idea of supporting our revered, rodent friends. I broached the subject of a trip to Alpena’s finest, The State Theater, to Wade.
“Hey, the new movie “Alvin and the Chipmunks” is playing at The State Theater. Do you want to take the boys?”
His eyes flashed great interest in the idea. “Yes, yes I do.” And then my “shower singer husband extraordinaire” burst into song.
“Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys…chipmunks.” He lifted his right eyebrow in a nonchalant smirk. “Just a little diddy my sisters and I used to listen to on our record player.”
And with the Chipmunk tune still echoing in our heads, our entire family jumped in the car and headed towards The State Movie Theater. Entering the building, we felt immersed in the nostalgia. The scent of the old building mixed well with the “pop pop” of the buttery fluffy corn available for my consumption at the bargain price of $7.00 a bucket with a drink.
And so there we were, Wade and myself and our 3 boys, a bucket of popcorn, fountain drinks in hand, feet slightly stuck to the floor, all glued to the screen as Alvin and his brothers sung at the top range of the keyboard.
In the darkened room, with the glow of the movie screen reflecting bluish tones on our faces, I glanced at my children. Kaeden, our middle son, was bouncing up and down on the seat. The “squeak, squeak” noise of the old seat was not harmonic with the chipmunks voices. “squeak, squeak, squeak.” Elijah, our oldest, turned his head towards Kaeden and said politely, “Kaeden, will you please stop moving?” Kaeden smiled at him and ever so slightly moved the chair. “Squeeeeaak.” He giggled a high-pitched giggle and repeated the action. “Squeeeeaak.” A loud moan from Elijah, our logical thinker, brought forth a possible solution.
“Kaeden, let’s just switch seats.” It was a novel idea from the 7 year old.
And it would have been even better if Elijah had thought of the solution a mere 30 seconds earlier. Hudson, our 5 month old had already been awoken by the previous “Squeeeeaak.” He let out a loud wail. Prematurely woken from his nap, he decided he wanted to do what he did best. Eat. Apparently the meal he had eaten just 2 hours before had not been sufficient. Well, who could blame him? Being five months and only weighing in at 19 pounds? He’s starving.
His cries brought an upward glance from Wade. He gave me the “look.” The look that means, “Do what you have to do to shut him up.” I rolled my eyes up at the ceiling and plowed through the diaper bag in search for a graham cracker. Stuffing it into my fat baby’s mouth, I breathed a sigh of relief when, once again, the room was quiet.
The movie ended and our family made the trek out to the cold car. Elijah walked next to me. He gave me a play by play of the movie. Apparently, he had forgotten that I was sitting right next to him for most of the movie.
Wade carried Hudson. He emitted occasional grunts while repeatedly offering the opinion that our child could, perhaps, join Weightwatchers. Kaeden trailed behind us singing a line from the movie, “Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang Walla walla, bing bang.”
Sitting in the front seat of the car, I angled myself to gain a better view of my children. I smiled at Elijah, our thinker, our talker, our problem solver. I touched the chubby cheek of Hudson, our happy, smiley baby whose life revolves around food.
“Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang Walla walla, bing bang.” The sound of singing made me attentive to Kaeden, our creative instigator.
It was then that I realized something. I gasped as I saw my children in a new light.
Turning to Wade, I gave voice to my mind’s thoughts, “Do you realize that we are raising Alvin, Simon and Theodore?”
Allowing my statement to sink in, he laughed out loud and offered his opinion in song, “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys…chipmunks.”
This was really good, though I do believe that I will have that song stuck in my head the rest of the day. How is the devotional book coming along?
@rugbana - still working on it...i am preoccupied with that and writing for the newspaper so it's a slow process. Thanks for asking!
That was really sweet! I loved the Chipmunks as a kid and was thrilled when Jonah and Ellie embraced them as well!!! Hey now, what ever happened to you being published? I never heard any details about when or where???
Comments (3)
@rugbana - still working on it...i am preoccupied with that and writing for the newspaper so it's a slow process. Thanks for asking!
That was really sweet! I loved the Chipmunks as a kid and was thrilled when Jonah and Ellie embraced them as well!!! Hey now, what ever happened to you being published? I never heard any details about when or where???