“Here’s looking at you, kid”

On Monday, three generations of our family got to enjoy one of my favourite summer New York activities: a free Monday night movie in Bryant Park.

If you’re not familiar with this experience, simply imagine a few thousand people accompanied by their evening picnic supplies and Big Apple competitiveness for space and position, and you have it. Add to that rather extraordinary lines for the (superb) bathroom and the picture is complete.

Well, that’s not being fair, because you also need to conjure up the feeling of crowded goodwill and enthusiasm; audience cheers at classic lines from the movie and wonderful weather.

We all — grandmom, mom and dad and little Calvin — wondered how the little one would do. The answer was brilliantly. The crowd didn’t bother his usual evening routine, save for taking longer to get to sleep, which wasn’t surprising considering the volume and response to the many moments in Monday night’s movie that everyone knew — “Play it again, Sam,” singing ‘As Time Goes By’, and random gunshots.

It was a classic evening in all senses of the word — gourmet sandwiches hunted down in perilous conditions by dad; gigantic chocolate cupcake dessert from Crumbs obtained by grandma; washed down by boutique Saratoga water. That we got to enjoy it all, from grandma staking out the perfect spot, to the food, and seeing the entire movie with a gently snoozing babe in arms. Three cheers Calvin, here’s looking at you. Kid!

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