Movie Night at the Geer's

A couple at my church puts on a free dinner every Wednesday night which I've gone to for a couple years now. Sometimes 40 people pack into their modest sized house, other times 10. Along the way I've come to know the Geer's. First the son, Dan and later the dad, Rich. Both are big movie nuts. I like movies a lot too, which gave us common ground to strike up conversations. Rich also a walking Bible encyclopedia and inevitably winds up getting involved in the most fascinating conversations which I do my best to listen in on.

A few months ago Dan invited me to come over to their place for his recently unveiled Sunday movie night. It didn't take long for him to discover I'd never seen Frankenstein, Dracula or much of anything before the 1970's. Well this had to change!! So for the past few months we've gone on a 50's and older sci-fi/horror marathon featuring a B movie to start out and then a classic to finish things off. We've gone through all the Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man and Invisible Man movies, several old German silent films (fascinating), a bunch of Vincent Price horror films and a generous selection of 50's sci-fi. Sometimes the horror films a bit much and I have trouble sleeping afterwards, but all in all movie night the highlight of my week.

Three weeks ago Dan surprised us with a change in format. Now we are going to start off with two X-Files episodes, with the goal of seeing them all in order (complete with the movie and the Lone Gunman between seasons 5/6 and 8/9 respectively) over the next 2 1/2 to 3 years. I always liked the X-Files, but for various reasons rarely got to watch it, so this a real treat! Since the X-Files episodes are relatively short, we still have time to watch a full length movie before our normal 10P stopping time rolls around.

Of course it not just the movies. The Geer's are great fun to hang out with and make me feel like I'm part of an extended family. I've always thought Dan a cool guy and now I get to hang out with him on a regular basis, ditto for Alex who almost always comes over later in the evening and of course I can't forget Rich, his brother James ... and Carol ...

Dans' mom Carol has a tragic pre-operative accident a few years ago that left her in a vegetative state. Thanks to Rich's tireless efforts, she's improved to where she clearly follows movements in the room, makes noises and can blink in response to questions. Most recently her feet have started to relax a bit. Rich brings Carol from her nursing home most every movie night so she can hang out with the rest of the family. No small feat, as it involves a 30 min. drive each way and loading/unloading her from the full size van donated to the family by several friends. I still marvel when I stop to think about it.

Speaking of marveling, we spend movie night in front of a 50 something inch plasma screen TV. Paying for Carol's care has pretty much wiped out the Geer's financially (believe if or not, you're on your own when something like this happens, the hospital hasn't paid a dime for her post-accident care and her insurance stopping paying when she left the hospital), so you might wonder how did they come up with the money for this? Well, Dan graduated from college a couple years ago. When the family came home from the ceremony guess what they found sitting in the front hallway ... pretty cool.