Falling In
When I go to the movies, I like to sit in one of the first five rows. Not the first or second row since that hurts my back but as close up as I can without damaging my neck or eyes. Most people I know like to sit in the middle or at the back. When my mom and I go to the movies, we sit in different spots. Jake used to like the middle, as well, but now he sits up front with me. I think he might have even grown to like it.
When you go to a movie and sit at the back of the theater, you watch the movie. But when you sit up close, something magical happens, you experience the movie. Well, maybe you don't. Maybe all you get is a headache. But I do. For the next hour or two, I fall into the world of the movie. I feel like I am watching the movie from inside, as if I am in the living room with the characters. As if I can touch the emotions in the room. For the duration of the film, I am no longer present in my world. I am fully and completely in the movie. This might explain why I refuse to watch horror movies.
You might think I've lost my mind. But the same thing happens to me when I read. The first fifty pages of a book feel like I'm reading it and the rest feel like I'm living it. I am right there with the main character. The people's lives mix in with mine. I wake up in the morning and wonder about them. I feel like I know them. I fall into the book.
Maybe this happens because I tend to read books in large chunks of time. I will sit and read for five hours straight. During such a long time, it's easy to leave my world and fall into theirs. When I finish the novel, I miss the people in them. It takes a few days for the effect to ware off. Until I realize that it was a book. A world constructed in the writer's imagination. In my imagination.
That's why I love reading. That's why I love the movies. I get a tiny opportunity to glimpse into someone else's life. To suspend mine for a brief period. To experience life as I might never get to. It's a momentary escape. But it's so much more.
Next time you go to the theater, try sitting up front. Row four is my favorite. Let yourself go. Try falling in. And let me know how it goes.
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