Renting Videos

A while back, I purchased a new wallet. Cleaning out my old one, I removed my no-longer-used laminated cards for video rental shops. I felt sad doing so, as I recalled our many trips to rent VHS tapes and later DVDs.

When my daughter was young, there was a Road Runner Video store in the nearby grocery store plaza. We frequented the place, especially in summertime but also after school. I had made the decision to stay home with our daughter during her grade school summers. We got all kinds of shows and videos over the years. I remember one called “The Brave Frog,” which I thought was horrible. When I looked the movie up on imdb.com, I realized that my opinion was pretty much the critical consensus! Of course, we also got the Disney classics, some cartoon shows on video, and other straight-to-video movies that were enjoyable.

Every once in a while, we’d see barefoot customers in the store. Video stores seemed like a perfect place into which one could dash san shoes; they’re not fancy places, you don’t aim to linger, and there is little potential for broken glass. On one occasion, a young mom and daughter, both shoeless, stood in line in front of us. It was certainly a place into which I occasionally padded for a quick return and fine-payment.

A Hollywood Video place opened down the street, which we also used, and the Road Runner eventually closed. I was sad to see it go, with all the associations I had of “field trips” with our daughter. I found a short feature on YouTube that expresses the pleasures of renting movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26eQ3QpNB6Q