Monday, February 20, 2012

You Will Remember This

My cousins and I used to play hours and hours of a game called Ghosts and Graveyards, the couch in their basement was base.  We also spent a lot of time playing Hide and Seek, a homemade version of The Price Is Right, and more.  We had sleepovers in the middle of our living room with all of our sleeping bags lined up beside one another.


My dad would sometimes read us stories or chapters of stories, like from Watership Down.  Yeah, no Goodnight Moon in our house. 


We didn't live in the same state as my cousins and we only saw each other a few times a year.  But those games, those sleepovers, those moments meant the world to us.  We were close.  I am still close to my cousin, even though we still don't live in the same state.


This past weekend, my sister was visiting from out of state. As we lined up the sleeping bags one by one for our own kids' sleepover we reminisced about all of our cousin time.  All the good memories and moments.


"Enjoy this, you will remember this for the rest of your life," I told them as I turned out the lights on their slumber party.  They looked confused so I told them about some of the stuff Aunt Dana and I used to do with our cousins.  


"We didn't have movies we could watch on tv," I explained.  "No computer, no ipad, no video games."  They all sat with their mouths hanging wide open, truly horrified.  


Chuckling as I went back downstairs to drink wine and visit with my sister, I thought maybe I should make more of an effort to unplug the kids, wondering if they lacked imagination because of all their video, computer-ness.  Wondering if they were missing the moments, missing the memories.


The next day I got out the paint and was worried they would balk and ask if they could play Wii instead.  But they didn't.  They created.  They imagined.  They had fun.  And then they played Wii and games on the ipad.  


The cousins had fun together with the computer and without.  


JT made a new best friend, my sister's dog Ginger.  


And yes, the campaign to convince me to get the family a dog has begun. The campaign manager is of course my dog-loving husband.  



And by the looks of my sweet son's smile with that dog, I am in trouble.


After the cousins left to go home, my kids were sad.  I planned a movie for the older kids to distract them.  We went to see Hugo, a f*#*ing amazing movie.  


Part of the movie focuses on what everyone's purpose in life is.  Lucy leaned over to me, pushing her 3-D glasses up on her nose, and said, "Your purpose is to write mommy and mine is to make people laugh."


I grabbed her hand and squeezed it as we both stared back at the big screen.  Enjoy this, I thought to myself, I will remember this for the rest of my life.


And by the way, go see this movie.  It's about stories, dreams, family, friendship, memories, love and hope.  Kind of like my weekend (only it's visually impressive and directed by Scorsese).

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