Seven teens and the Smurf movie

I smurf these kids. They made my summer. And even Josh, the youngest, says he'll never forget the night Aunt Susan got everyone to wear blue t-shirts at a 10pm showing of the Smurf movie.

[Truth: It was a 9:30 pm showing. But Josh insists on counting it as 10pm.]

Growing up, we traveled during the summer. This Delta pilot's daughter set foot in several European countries and saw her Hawaiian birth place more than once before leaving for college. Flying about was the norm. Sitting still was not. And I loved it.

A lack of finances limited travel when my boys were young. Unreliable legs and fatigue keep me home now. So by summer's end, after months of rest and rehab from a busy spring, I get edgy and dream of adventure. A trip to White Water would satisfy at this point, but I can't climb enough stairs to justify the price.

So as Nathan's departure for college drew close a few weeks ago, I felt crazed by the fact we hadn't made much of a family memory. I about gave up and then God wrote one for me.

Nathan returned from a family reunion he attended with my mom in Pennsylvania (only three days before he left for UGA) with tales of late night UNO and unconventional rules. Audrey, a friend of Sam's whose mom died this summer, expressed interest in joining us to reenact those games. Within 24 hours, my house filled with almost a dozen teens who gathered for White Chili, brownies, and crazy games.

I love a good party. The chatter. The laughter. Life buzzing in my home.

As the day came to an end, we started brain storming for one last outrageous something. We thought about singing in Walmart but my hip hurt too much for me to walk far. So we researched movies and found the Smurf movie offered the best times and locations. Since none of us would ever have opted to see that movie on a night we weren't vying for the outrageous, it worked. We considered buying blue paint to color our faces, but didn't have time. When I mentioned the t-shirt potential, Sam ran upstairs and dug through his t-shirt stash and found seven blue t-shirts, enough for all to wear. That was outrageous enough for me.

We sat in a row, all eight of us dressed in blue, and watched the Smurfs take on Manhattan. And after the blue characters found their way home, my family even let me take a photo.

So I smurf these kids. On this last day of August, I still really smurf these kids.

"Life gives us brief moments with another... but sometimes in those brief moments we get memories that last a lifetime." Author Unknown