The first movie I ever saw was at the Regal Round Lake movie theater was “Sky High,” according to my mother. In my mind, I was extremely lucky to see such a critically acclaimed film as my first ever movie going experience.

Every summer since I was a kid, my mom, siblings, and I would go and watch movies on the weekdays every week because they were cheap. I got to experience watching some of the best and worst movies, and had to face the embarrassment of seeing the employees more than once a week. From when we went to go see the last Harry Potter movie to being dragged to a movie that I didn’t want to see at 10 at night and falling asleep in the movie theater, which eventually led to me being dragged out by my mother and missing one of my shoes. To this day I still don’t know where that shoe ended up.

I would like to say that the movie theater might not have been the best at times. More than once we’ve had to tell them that the sound wasn’t playing or the lights weren’t turned off, but I think that only played into the charm and the movie watching experience. I have more than once said that my favorite place to go was the Regal Round Lake movie theater because of all of the great memories I’ve made over the years. More than once have I spilled the container of popcorn and had to start collecting it with my hands, or dropped my phone beneath the seat in front of me and then disrupted everyone around me trying to get it back. Even though I embarrassed myself by laughing too loud when it was completely silent or being jump scared during the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movie, I kept going back. Nothing would be able to replace all the good times I had there and all the movies I watched.

To hear that it’s closing is extremely sad for my siblings and me because we will now have to commit to going to the Gurnee Mills movie theater, which I will admit has better chairs, but it will never be able to replace the memories that I have from Regal.