On a bit of a whim today, I declared it a Mama-F date evening and we hopped in the car and drove to Sydney to see a movie in theatres. With his portable DVD player on his lap, F sat in the backseat watching 101 Dalmatians on the 80 minute drive to town. We arrived just as the advertisements began.

With a regular popcorn and drink each, we found seats and tried to settle in. The floor below my seat was crazy slippery, and I kicked the seat ahead of me not once, but three times. The mother of the little girl in said seat was not impressed.

Next to me, F sat excitedly shoving popcorn in his mouth. He’d been waiting to see the movie, Home, for some time and it’s a universal truth that movies are better on the big screen with a gigantic bag of popcorn. I watched the movie almost as much as I watched him, as he laughed and cried with the characters. Somehow, I forgot how amazing it is to just be.

After our movie, we drove to Walmart where I picked up a couple of toiletries I needed, F picked out some new Dinky cars and we grabbed a frozen pizza for when we got home. F only lasted for about half the drive before nodding off in his car seat.

In the midst of the craziness that is our life, I rarely give in to the whim. Instead, Starbucks dates with my favourite guy are scheduled days in advance, Wednesday is McDonald’s night and Fridays are for nachos and Netflix. Our special days and dates are just that – special – but they don’t measure up to days like today.

As we climbed into bed tonight, F looked at me the way only he can and said “Our date was SO awesome, Mama. I had fun today.” It wasn’t the popcorn. It wasn’t the pizza. It wasn’t the theatre seats or the soft drinks or the Skittles.

It was just us.