November 18, 2006

The Lesson of Big and Little

Chris and I have a house guest staying with us for a few days, and she was kind enough to offer to babysit one evening for us if we decided we wanted to go out so that she could say thank you for opening our home to her. Being the polite host that I am, I immediately pounced on the offer like a ravenous beast and all but kneeled to clean her shoes with my tears of rapturous joy.

So, last night we went out on a DATE. (It's been awhile.) We went to see the movie 'Stranger Than Fiction'. If you haven't seen this movie, you should STOP reading this blog right now and go hop in your cars or catch a bus and head down to the movie theatre and see it. NOW-ish!



Maybe I'm just being a tid bid overenthusiastic because the last movie I was able to go see in the theatres was 'Chronicles of Narnia' a ga-jillion months ago. Maybe I could have gone to see the theatre re-release of 'Glitter' and still been just as pleased because, hey, let's face it- I'm the mother of a toddler and it doesn't take much, you know? Give me a coca-cola slushie and a bag of popcorn and sit me in front of a wall of drying paint and I'm good to go. Just so long as there's no toddler in the room yelling "CAR! CAR! CAR! VROOOOOM!" over and over again, I'll be in heaven.

It's funny how kids have a way of making life a whole lot more complicated, yet simplifying it at the same time.

Becasue, sure! I may have to drag a huge purse load of baby gear with me wherever I go and I have to actually PLAN AHEAD and schedule my life around naps and meals, all the while stimulating his mind and preparing him socially and spiritually for the real world he's going to be growing up in, but man-o-man! ... I've sure learned to appreciate the small things in life in the midst of all the chaos.

Instead of coming up with fancy ways to spend our time, Chris and I have learned to savor the taste of two-buck-chuck by the romanic Citranella candlelight... sitting on our patio in the evenings- fending off the monster mosquitoes and enjoying the occasional smokey treat or two... The little pleasures become huge while the things that used to seem so huge and pressing become little. Unimportant. Obscure.

This week at gymboree, Ezra learned the difference between Big and Little. As I watched him absorbing what the teacher was showing him, I couldn't help but smile, because... well, I guess I'm still learning that too.

4 comments:

Erin said...

Thanks for the movie recommendation! I love to think that we'll actually get the chance to go out on a date like that (which we DID recently, and saw Borat. Hilarious save the exceptionally sad parts that make you want to move to another country).

I loved your writing about enjoying the small moments with your family. We are the same way and you put it into words nicely. THAT's the stuff of life, for real.

Also, hey, thanks for the input on how you & Ezra survive the day together. I needed some advice!

Anonymous said...

Good Stuff, EmJo ... also, I love the addition to your blog header. Jaxon's portrait captures the real EZRA!, it's a nice touch for your Mommy blog.

Anonymous said...

LOVED the movie......we saw it on the same night as you....we MUST have secret powers!

Debra K said...

Hey the last time I went to the movies was to see Narnia. Tamika watched Nehemiah for us and he slept the whole time we were gone. Then as soon as we got home and wanted to go to bed, he woke up and didnt want to do back to sleep.