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Say YES To Doing The Thing From Time To Time.
I’ll be honest with you, I’m writing this during an absolute shame-spiral. It’s something I have to get off my chest, and I want to do it while it’s raw. (It’ll be useful, I promise, but be warned, it’s coming from a very emotional place.)
As a mother, I’m constantly looking for new experience opportunities that would bring my three children joy. I’ve gone so far as to keep a list, much like if I were to go grocery shopping, check-marking the box next to the location only once we’ve had a successful trip.
But this weekend, the Universe sent me an uncharacteristically straight-forward and easy option, so perfectly suited for my first son, Grayson (my wonderful middle-child, who is about to be 3). It came in the form of a preview for the new Paw Patrol movie — a movie he’s been asking to see for more than a year, which was always an impossible request to fulfill, until now.
I locked eyes with my husband across the room, who immediately nodded vigorously, knowing what I was thinking.
But then I surprised him by saying, “I want to take him to this one. Will you stay with Landon (just turned 1), and possibly Cadence (almost 7)?”
He smiled and said it wasn’t a problem at all. It would be the first time Grayson and I went out to do something alone, and it would also be the first time I went out alone with my two oldest, if Cadence decided to tag along (which was likely, because movie theater).
I spent the next several days thinking about it, just imagining myself making the 45-minute drive out to Rijeka, off of the island we call home, to visit the closest movie theater, Grayson trilling in the backseat, asking the whole way there if I would roll the windows down so he could just barely reach his fingers out the window to feel the cooling air.
We’d arrive and park, taking the long walk through the parking garage and up the 5 floors it would take to reach the theater, purchase tickets for the movie that was just minutes away, giving us just enough time to get popcorn and drinks to share in our pair (or three) seats.
Then the movie would start and everything else would fall away, my son sitting forward in his oversized seat, in awe of the big screen I would have taken him to…
