My Curse...

Since I moved to Indianapolis, I have heard great things about the IMA Summer Nights Program, where the IMA hosts Friday movie nights out on their terrace. The gates open promptly at 5:30 PM, and people bring in their picnic baskets and wine, candles and bug spray, blankets and lawn chairs. The movie begins around dusk (between 9:30 and 10:30 daylight savings time), and so you have plenty of time for taking walks, enjoying dinner and making conversation, etc. It sounds like a wonderful, relaxing way to spend the evening, doesn’t it!

However, on 3 consecutive yearly attempts made by yours truly to attend said programs, the skies have opened up and drenched the ground. Twice it rained all day on the scheduled event date, and so there was no chance of the movie happening that night. And then the third time, it started to rain on our pre-movie picnic around 8 PM or so, and when I say rain, I mean it poured and there was lightning and thunder to go along with it. So last year, I opted not to even try to attend. Why doom those happy fellow picnickers that didn’t know about my curse? I graciously decided to stay away.

But this year, last Friday night to be exact, I decided to tempt fate once more. Now from the beginning of our planning for the event, I told my friends that I needed to be tentative on the schedule. I didn’t want to definitely plan on attending, and I was sure that I should NOT be involved with any of the planning. NO WAY! I needed to stay clear and fake out the “rain gods” (as it were) because I didn’t want to jinx yet another event. I promised not to talk about rain relating to the event, and was told NOT to even check the weather for the whole week. But that’s rather hard for me to do, you know!! I might not watch the news or be all that informed about current events these days, but I do tend to check the weather. So on Thursday, I broke down and decided to check weather.com and I found much to my surprise that Friday was scheduled to be a lovely sunny day—no rain in sight.

On Friday morning I optimistically got things all packed up and ready to go and headed off to work for the day. Around mid-morning, one of my co-workers mentioned that she was sorry to hear that it was going to rain that evening. I gulped in shock and jumped right back on weather.com again. Sure enough, there was a 10-30% chance of rain for that evening. I called Sara (the lead planner for our group) in a panic. I mean, it clearly seemed that the curse was back in full force. But Sara calmed me down and told me not to worry about it yet. We’d go forward and make rain plans if we needed to.

Well, all day the rain held, and so with bated breath, I headed to the IMA. We spread out our blankets and settled down for a pleasant summer evening picnic. We shared stories, we laughed, we toasted each other with peach Bellinis (champagne and peach Schnapps), and we played a trivia game and just relaxed in the sun. I tried not to keep an eye on the sky, but I couldn’t help it, yet still the rain held off. 6 PM, 7 PM, 8 PM, 9 PM. No rain!

After 9:30 PM, The Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey started, and we all settled down and got comfy. What a perfect evening!!

5 minutes into the film...DRIP!! I look up. I can make out some clouds overhead, but they don’t look ominous. Maybe it’s all in my head. Just a fluke!

5 minutes 30 seconds in...DRIP! DROP!! Come on. This can’t be happening!

6 minutes in...DRIP! DROP! DRIP! DROP!! What are the chances here! I shouldn’t have come! I look around, and I can see that my friends and fellow picnickers are putting up their hoods on their sweatshirts and jackets or snuggling deeper into their blankets. My friends refuse to make eye contact with me, as they try to focus on the movie. This is really happening. I’m cursed, and they know it. I’m Jonah here, and they need to throw me overboard.

7 minutes in...nothing! The sprinkles stop. I look around me. Couples are snuggling and admiring one another. Children are in their Mom’s arms or on Dad’s knees. My friends are intently watching the movie--laughing at the hilarious antics, smiling at the wry comments and enjoying the flick! My friend Sara catches my eye and gives me a knowing smile. All is right with the world, Mel! Maybe you aren’t cursed after all…

It didn’t rain after that at all. We all watched the movie in relative calm. A couple of times I glanced up at the sky above us and smiled. It was a wonderful, successful evening, and I’m game to try again. But I think I will let others plan it the next time as well. It’s best not to be TOO risky, you know...