Yesterday it rained on and off but not heavily. This morning I woke up to the rain hitting the windows, but it is an unsettled rain, heavy at times, other times misty. I went to the dentist. It wasn’t raining there, a couple of towns away. The latest weather report calls for isolated thunderstorms. It will be hot at 78° with all the dreaded humidity the rain brings.

When I was a kid, I hated going to the dentist. Usually it was because I had a toothache, and everything hurt. We never had regular check-ups at either the dentist or the doctor. That was the way it was when both my parents were growing up so that was what they knew. Now, other than my brother, we all have regular appointments. Today was a teeth cleaning.

In the summer, when I was a kid, my mother seldom knew where I was even though I was gone most of the day. If I was walking, I was probably at the park. If I was on my bike, I could be anywhere. She was never afraid for us. We had gotten the don’t talk to strangers conversation, and she figured we had listened. We had. I felt safe. I figured I could go anywhere so I did.

When I was in high school, my friends and I went to Boston to see Cleopatra at the Metropolitan Theater. It was the grandest theater I have ever been in. I remember the high ceiling, the lights, the boxes on the sides of the theater, the wall paper and the red curtain. The ladies’ room even had a plush lounge chair. I sat on it to take in all the beauty of the room, a bathroom.

My town’s movie theater was originally built in 1917. It had a stage at the front where there used to be vaudeville acts and giveaways of glassware. There was a small balcony in front of the projector room. I went to the theater often to see matinees on Saturdays. I didn’t know the theater’s history when I was young. I suspect even if I knew I wouldn’t have been impressed. I would have thought it was just old. The theater closed for almost thirty years before it was sold and restored. It became a live performance theater. I have seen several plays there. Every time I go to a play I look around and remember being a kid and sitting and watching cartoons before the big movie. My theater has changed but it is also still the same.