Late Fees

Usually about once a month Celia and I have what we have come to know as “Romick Day.” Do not be fooled by the catchy title. Romick Day consists of nothing more than sweat pants, movies, coffee until about noon, and pizza ordered from the bowling alley. Typically Romick Day is declared early in the morning; the majority of the time following an evening without the kids. About the title, well I do not even know how the title caught on; I think Celia said it one morning and it just stuck. As I mentioned before movies are a key component to Romick Day, and therein lies a whole other story.

I love watching movies. I always have. From the time I was a young boy there was something about movies that grabbed my attention. Every weekend I would ride my bike up to Home Video, my hometown’s small video store, I would rent three to four movies and have a blast. Every Sunday when my Grandpa and Grandma’s newspaper arrived I would tear apart the TV Guide for the week to see if there were any movies I could record. As I continued to grow older the only thing that changed was my preference in movies and my ability to return the movies on time.

For reasons unknown to me, I cannot return a movie before the due date. This bad habit took on a whole new life when I was in college. I can recall back in college I rented the movie Matchstick Men when it was a new release. The movie sat in my room for weeks without being returned. All the while I would continue to rent movies from Blockbuster and hear I still had a movie out. Of the numerous trips I made to Blockbuster I always forgot to grab Matchstick Men. Finally, enough time passed for Blockbuster to decide the easiest course of action, for both parties, was for me to buy Matchstick Men. So I bought Matchstick Men and have not watched it since.

The best thing that ever happened for my movie watching addiction was Netflix and Blockbuster doing away with late fees. With that stroke of genius I knew I was not alone. I knew there were thousands upon thousands of sorry, irresponsible movie viewers like myself. It’s nice to know I’m part of a group, even if we are not properly acknowledged. With all of that said what I find the most amusing is I view myself as being very responsible.

Before I begin this next section I must confess Celia is largely responsible for follows. We are very good at paying our bills, all of them. Every month money is set aside for our children’s education, emergency funds are in place, etc., etc. When it comes to returning movies on time, neither one of us can be trusted.

Last Friday Celia and I attended a Christmas party. Hailey only had one nap that day which resulted in us leaving the Christmas party early. As we walked to the car Celia threw out the idea of renting a movie. This appealed greatly to me as Terminator Salvation was released on video earlier in the week. Unfortunately for me the latest Terminator installment was not in stock but a movie Celia wanted was, Night at the Museum 2. Even more there was a movie Jadon saw, grabbed, and could not stop talking about. In case anybody is wondering Jadon grabbed a 5-in-1 movie which contained Barney, Thomas and Friends, and Bob the Builder to name a few. As we exited the cashier said, “Both of these are due back Monday before noon.”

I’m so irresponsible I rent movies expecting to pay a late fee. I’m still fuming about the time Celia and I rented The Soloist, kept it in our possession for an entire week past the due date, and failed to watch it even once. That was money well spent! Fortunately we watched Night at the Museum 2, twice. As I mentioned before, both movies were due back before noon on Monday. Well it is currently 8:38 p.m. on Wednesday I can comfortably say the movies will not be returned tomorrow. Even with a list of things to do for a day returning movies somehow always seems to be neglected.

The worst part is this. I work out every day and so does Celia. The gym we use is within spitting distance from where we rent our movies from. Like I said before, for some unexplainable reason I cannot return a movie on time. How pathetic is that?

I understand Netflix is still an option but since I live in Germany it takes Netflix about two weeks for a movie to arrive. Who wants to wait two weeks to watch a 90 minute movie? Not this guy, that much is for certain.


The bottom line is I have developed a terrible habit. I need to accept reality though; I’m 28 years old and I’m dangerously close to becoming set in my ways for life. I’m curious how many other people share the same problem. As I said before, I know I’m not alone. If anybody reading this knows of a way I can change my bad ways I would be more than happy to listen. If not, I understand.

In closing, with my Battalion Ball in two days I’m aware the next Romick Day will most likely occur on Saturday. I’d also venture to say Saturday would be a safe bet Jadon’s 5-in-1 movie and Night at the Museum 2 are properly returned.