When I was growing up, Mom and Dad were homebodies. While a lot of other parents were active in social organizations and made the rounds at the weekend parties, Mom and Dad preferred the solitude of family time at home. This didn't bother me as a kid, but looking back it did have ramifications.
Since Mom and Dad weren't big movie-goers, this effectively meant I wasn’t a big movie-goer. I think the reasoning was, “There’s TV at the house.” Consequently, I missed seeing the biggest blockbusters of my generation including Star Wars, The Goonies, and Raiders of the Lost Ark when they played in theaters.
Eating out was also out of the norm. Intentionally leaving the house with its well stocked pantry to go to Burger King or Pizza Hut, sit at a booth, and have a meal there was considered a special treat. And that's just for fast food. If we were at a fancier restaurant that had cloth napkins rather than paper ones, it must have been somebody's birthday.
This led to disappointments as a kid. As Mom and I were out and about running errands, my face would press against the inside of the passenger window of the 'Stang. Hands on the window sill, my eyes would follow one of my favorites, a Burger King, as we drove past it. "Mom, could we..." Mom always had her canned response ready.
"There's food at the house."
Time skipping forward a decade and change and I was now in Auburn. Andrea and I were dating, and I was running errands one day with Andrea, her sister, Marie, and her mom. It was a hot, summer day, and as we finished at the grocery store, Andrea was grabbing drinks out of the coolers by the registers.
Andrea's mom stopped her with, "There's drinks at the house."
Andrea simply returned the drinks, but I glitched. Was this deja vu? I'd heard that line all my years growing up. Mind you, it was with a different accent and desired objects, but it was the same line. I thought this experience was unique to my parents. Was this a line from the "Boomer Handbook" that spanned geography and cultures?
Time skipping forward a few more decades, Andrea and I laugh at the shared experience.
One thing we've rediscovered in recent years, especially post COVID, is, "There's TV at the house." Aided by the rise of streaming services, Andrea and I have found we forego the full on cinematic event unless the small screen would severely impact the experience. The last movie that put us in theater seats was Dune II.
In this sense, we've become our parents. We'd rather watch from the comfort of home with our own snacks and the ability to pause for bathroom breaks.
As for the echoes of, "There's food at the house," we consider ourselves fairly competent cooks, and our pantry can usually supply ingredients for multiple meals across several cuisines. That doesn't stop us from availing ourselves of the broad range of dining options in our area whenever we want. Besides, sometimes the food at the house is leftover takeout from the night before.
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