My friend's facebook status was about watching Toy Story 3 with her boys, crying and officially declaring that they would not be allowed to grow up. I totally understand. My oldest son, Andy, was a year old when the first Toy Story movie came out. I don't think we watched it until Toy Story 2 came out when my Andy turned five. We thought it was so cool that his name was the same as the main character in the movie. Of course, we bought a Woody and a Buzz Light Year so he could really be like the Andy in the movie. Great movies like that don't get thrown to the bottom of the toy box, so we've faithfully continued to watch Toy Story over and over and over through out the years as my Andy has grown up.
This past year we saw Toy Story 3 at the theater. In the 3rd Toy Story Andy is all grown up and getting ready to go to college. My Andy is now sixteen, a sophomore in high school, and like the movie character, he is all grown up. I don't want to give away the ending (which isn't a problem since I don't remember it) but there are a lot of "goodbye's" in this movie. I think even if Andy didn't have the same name as the main character and we hadn't made such a strong connection with these movies, it would have been a hard movie to watch without getting emotional But the way my Andy has followed the character Andy, this movie hit really close to home for both of us. We are starting to get college flyers in the mail now almost every day. Andy has taken college prep tests and I've been asking around and looking out for college information and scholorships and programs. Fortunately, there's a lot of work that goes into getting ready for college. Without all those details to focus so much time and energy on, I think I would go crazy thinking solely about my Andy leaving home!
With that in mind, I decided to take another look at my bucket list. I will probably leave most if not all of the items I have on the list, but I'm guess I'll add a few extras that include my kids. There are things I am looking forward to in the future after they go to college, maybe get married and have their own kids, but I only have 2 1/2 more years with Andy living at home, 3 1/2 more years with Jenna at home and 5 1/2 years with Johnny at home. To my kids this little bit of time will feel like an eternity as they begin to crave the freedom of being on their own, out from underneath my cruel and unusual punishment. (ha, if you know me, they will probably want to stay at home.) To me, the last sixteen years has been a blur. It feels like just last week that we were pushing strollers and carrying diaper bags. Then I closed my eyes and I don't know what happened! Two and half years will go by faster than the speed of Buzz Light Year.
So, I'm going to do some brainstorming and think of some things I want to do with my kids before they "grow up." And I'm going to ask my kids what they would like to do before they "grow up." Even if we don't get to everything, because we never do, I know I will be happy knowing we used our time wisely creating our own Toy Stories. If you have little kids and you sometimes feel like you're going crazy, I encourage you to watch Toy Story 3, because they always grow up sooner than we think. Until next time. I need to go, "To Infinity and Beyond!"
My friend's facebook status was about watching Toy Story 3 with her boys, crying and officially declaring that they would not be allowed to grow up. I totally understand. My oldest son, Andy, was a year old when the first Toy Story movie came out. I don't think we watched it until Toy Story 2 came out when my Andy turned five. We thought it was so cool that his name was the same as the main character in the movie. Of course, we bought a Woody and a Buzz Light Year so he could really be like the Andy in the movie. Great movies like that don't get thrown to the bottom of the toy box, so we've faithfully continued to watch Toy Story over and over and over through out the years as my Andy has grown up. 
This past year we saw Toy Story 3 at the theater. In the 3rd Toy Story Andy is all grown up and getting ready to go to college. My Andy is now sixteen, a sophomore in high school, and like the movie character, he is all grown up. I don't want to give away the ending (which isn't a problem since I don't remember it) but there are a lot of "goodbye's" in this movie. I think even if Andy didn't have the same name as the main character and we hadn't made such a strong connection with these movies, it would have been a hard movie to watch without getting emotional But the way my Andy has followed the character Andy, this movie hit really close to home for both of us. We are starting to get college flyers in the mail now almost every day. Andy has taken college prep tests and I've been asking around and looking out for college information and scholorships and programs. Fortunately, there's a lot of work that goes into getting ready for college. Without all those details to focus so much time and energy on, I think I would go crazy thinking solely about my Andy leaving home!
With that in mind, I decided to take another look at my bucket list. I will probably leave most if not all of the items I have on the list, but I'm guess I'll add a few extras that include my kids. There are things I am looking forward to in the future after they go to college, maybe get married and have their own kids, but I only have 2 1/2 more years with Andy living at home, 3 1/2 more years with Jenna at home and 5 1/2 years with Johnny at home. To my kids this little bit of time will feel like an eternity as they begin to crave the freedom of being on their own, out from underneath my cruel and unusual punishment. (ha, if you know me, they will probably want to stay at home.) To me, the last sixteen years has been a blur. It feels like just last week that we were pushing strollers and carrying diaper bags. Then I closed my eyes and I don't know what happened! Two and half years will go by faster than the speed of Buzz Light Year. 
4 comments:
Testing: I'm trying to make a comment from JB's computer because I've heard from many people that they tried to leave a comment but couldn't. We'll see if this works and I'll try to figure it out. Thanks for reading!
It worked from JB's computer by using "anonymous". Now I'll try to get my name on there.
Great post. (Loved the one before this one too and will recommend it along the way with people struggling with that issue.) Anyway, Aaron is getting married this weekend and he was at the perfect age when Toy Story came out. Most nights when he went to bed I would tell him to close his eyes and pretend to go to sleep so that his stuffed animals would come alive and then I'd do a story/adventure with them. Great memories. Henry W.
I'm going to try and keep this at the forefront of my mind as I'm getting upset with the sibling quarrels of my 9,7 & almost 5 year olds. Thanks for the reminder! Now I am torn on seeing this movie - I'm sure I'll be bawling for half of it!
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