During COVID, we established Friday family movie night featuring the girls' choice of take-out, which became an anchor for our otherwise non-eventful weeks. The girls were finally old enough to watch some of our favorite childhood classics, and we enjoyed many movies together in the Spring of 2020.
Cut to last night, a sunny Friday evening after a long week. I was ready to be outside with neighbors in our cul de sac. Adelaide had other ideas; she had been anticipating a Friday movie night. Admittedly, my attitude when it comes to animated movies is not stellar. Perhaps due to the direct correlation between animated films and my body selecting to power down for a lil' nappy nap at 7PM on Friday night. Movie night is the only time my body desires to nap. No dice if I lay down at 2PM on a Saturday, but if we gather for family movie night, I am nearly guaranteed to FALL ASLEEP because this is what my body does during animated films. Try as I might, I cannot keep my eyes open, even through a musical masterpiece such as Encanto, which my in-laws joined us for and bore witness to this phenomenon. What in the actual world is wrong with me? Cheers.
So last night I wanted to stay outside in the sunshine with my friends, but instead, my oldest baby, who is no longer a baby, asked to spend time as a family. I felt like a human child because I should want this family movie night. Also, I WANT to want this family movie night for so many reasons, but that doesn't change the fact that I just don't.
As parents often do, I swallowed my preferences, came inside, grabbed my Papa Murphy's cheese pizza, and plunked down on the couch for the animated selection of the evening: "Ron's Gone Wrong." At one point, I look at Adelaide and see her pure, unencumbered joy, which is in shorter supply these days as we enter the pre-teen phase of parenting. I recall how Jesus told the disciples, "I will not be with you much longer," and consider how the disciples probably *thought* they understood what Jesus was saying but, in actuality, could never fully understand the weight of that moment with him until after he pulled the most fantastic party trick of all time. This is true for my parenting journey too. Friday movie nights will soon fade away, and there will come a day when Adelaide and Evie are not physically near us. Soon enough, I'll have Friday nights that are so free I'll miss the tension of these days. We laughed through the movie, and I, in a remarkable turn of events, actually stayed awake. Sometimes the more challenging path for me is living fully awake and making peace with the present moment. Could this in-the-trenches training be one of the unexpected privileges of parenting?
No comments:
Post a Comment