Voiceless

I’ve been flirting with a sinus infection for almost a week now. Not unusual for me in May and October. My evil months of the year for health. I think I successfully kept the infection away, but…

This is the first time in a long time that my voice has completely exited. I can barely whisper… occassionally a little sound comes out. But on a whole, no voice. Atleast my throat doesn’t HURT. It just won’t emit sound!

Thank heavens for text messaging, instant messaging, Twitter and notepads! Otherwise, I’d be cut off from all communications. That would pretty much drive me crazy. Especially since my husband is in Oklahoma today, and I have a friend from back home visiting! This is not a good time to have no voice!

Me and Lindsey in the Alley
Me and Lindsey in the Alley

I guess I should be grateful I have a few days before I work downtown again. Perhaps that would be a worse time. Pretty hard to ask what someone wants on their hot dog when there’s no voice. I suppose I could just point at the menu and list of toppings. That might work, assuming they aren’t seeing double by that time.

I digress. Since I am all about adding pictures to my blog entries, I’ll put a picture here of me and Lindsey from Wednesday night. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. I wonder if that counts double when there is no voice to say those words.

Hmmmm…

Anyway, Lindsey is my oldest friend with a history there that can never, ever, ever be denied or beaten. Known her since we were both 5! So 23 years of friendship. That’s rare to find these days. And reminiscing has been a BLAST! Not going to be ready to see her leave tomorrow morning.

Here’s to hoping my voice reappears this afternoon so we can continue to visit… maybe a trip to the mall will help. Maybe.

Do they sell voices at the mall?

At the drive-in

Drive-In Intermission
Drive-In Intermission

I don’t know what came over me this afternoon. I’m sure my husband even wondered what came over me.

See, out of the blue, as we sat on the couch thinking about the day — Memorial Day, a day to honor and remember all the men and women who serve our country so we can enjoy our many freedoms — I blurted out, “Do you want to go see a movie?”

Movies are just so darn expensive to go see these days! And we’ve had to tighten down to get through. So for me to suggest going to see a movie was about like my suggesting that the sky had turned green and the grass blue.

After some discussion on what we’d go see, my husband suggested going to a drive-in movie. I was skeptical, just thinking that with it being a Monday night there would be no way we would find one open. However, a quick Google search not only found a drive-in close by — about a 45 minute drive for us — but one that was showing a double feature of the two movies we couldn’t decide between in the beginning! Besides all of that, the ticket prices couldn’t be beat. It was a no brainer, and a date night created.

This was my first visit to a drive in. I still remember the drive-in that was such a prominent feature in my hometown. I also remember it being torn down in the late 1980s. Today, that lot holds a nursing home, as my hometown became one of the many towns and cities in which the drive-in has disappeared.

Me and my seat at the drive-in
Me and my seat at the drive-in

With that disappearance, the experience of attending a drive-in theater has also disappeared. That’s a fact that has always made me sad, and after tonight it makes me all the more sad.

I absolutely loved watching movies sitting in chairs in the bed of my truck. Two great movies — both of which I definitely recommend, “Star Trek” and “Angels & Demons” — and great food at the concession stand. My husband insisted I take a blanket with me, which I am so glad he did… it came in handy! We snuggled up under the stars, surrounded by lightening bugs. I have to admit… it was rather romantic.

This was one of the cheapest, yet most special, date nights we’ve ever had. I can’t wait to do it again!

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Stardust Drive-In is located in Watertown, TN. A short trip into the country from Nashville, just south of Lebanon, TN.