Working where I work, my hometowns commercial movie theater, random things happen. Perhaps Stranger Things have happened….like when Lucas from the Netflix Original Show “Stranger Things”, aka Caleb McLaughlin, came to see a movie! This is the story of how myself and my co-workers had the best day meeting Caleb!

Back in October it was a normal, boring Friday night. This was one of our slower weekends during the fall and I had been looking for people to take my shift as to not be closing on a slow night. It was around 9 p.m when this family comes up to me to buy tickets at the Box Office. It's a man, his wife, and their two kids (a boy and a girl). I immediately recognize the son from somewhere, but I could not begin to think of where I knew him from. I figured I'd simply seen him at the theater before, but as I kept staring at him (I'm a weirdo, I know) it clicked in my head. Is Lucas from Stranger Things seriously 10 feet in front of me? No, of course not! Why would Caleb McLaughlin (aka Lucas) be in the random city of Danbury, Connecticut?

The longer I looked the more convinced I was that it was him. As the sale was completed and the family walked away, I couldn't break my gaze. Every person in the family looked back at me, smiling and nodding to me as if they knew that I knew what was up. I ran over to my supervisor and asked, “is that Lucas from Stranger Things??” My supervisor looks past the concession stand where we were standing in front of and says, “no, he's too short!” I couldn't help but laugh. That definitely is a factor since kids (and people in general) heights can be distorted on television.

I went back to box office, but I could not shake the feeling that it was him. I did the most courageous thing next….I went up to his mom and asked her if her son was on Stranger Things. In this moment the last thing I want is to be wrong and horribly embarrass myself.

Luckily for me, though, she answered, “yes, he is!” My heart immediately began to race. Stranger Things is my favorite show and definitely the best show of 2016. I went over to Lucas and was gushing to him about how I loved the show and how he was amazing in it. He was the most humble human being I've ever met. He said thank you and that he really appreciates all the support. When I asked for a picture he said, “absolutely!” We took a selfie and it was one of the best moments of my life. He was so kind and stopped to chat with all of us who worked here who knew him from the show. He told me how excited he was for the movie he was seeing and how he's blown away by the love he was getting at the theater from the employees.

I apologized to his parents for all of us talking to them and disrupting their movie going experience but his dad said it was completely fine. His dad even took a group photo of all of the employees with him to put on his Facebook page! It was so exciting and it made my 2016. After he left the lobby to see the movie, it was all the employees could talk about.

Now, months later, it is incredibly exciting to see him and the cast of ST accepting awards for their work on the show. I see him on tv for all the award shows and am incredibly proud that he is doing so well. Him and the entire cast deserve all the recognition, the show is incredible! Caleb even came back again after I met him but sadly I was not there. Though I wasn't there he told my co-worker all about how he was going to Georgia for 6 months to film for season 2 and that his sister was going to be on the next season of Orange is The New Black! I love both shows so I am incredibly pumped for the next seasons respectively.

As the next premiere date for the second season of Stranger Things was just announced for this Halloween I thought it would be a good time to share my experience meeting Caleb and thanking him for being so kind to all of us here at the theater. I'll never forget how sweet he was to take the time to meet us and chat with us for a little while. He's such a nice kid and I am hoping he comes back after filming so we can all congratulate him on everything he has accomplished!

Hope you all enjoyed this little story time post this week! I have so many random things that happen in my life, so there will be more to come!