I should have trusted my instinct.
Our first obstacle was a perfectly-timed snow storm. I considered not going, but she was so excited, I decided we could leave early and take back roads. We ate dinner at 4:30 instead of eating out beforehand, and the evening proceeded like this:
5:30pm - Katy and I pull out of the driveway. She asks if this is going to be a long drive.
5:40pm - Oh, my. We're barely out of the neighborhood.
6:05pm - Katy asks me for the 100th time - how much longer? Why are we driving so slow? How far is it?
6:20pm - Truck does a 360 in front of us on a side street.
6:40pm - I can see the arena, but we're at a standstill trying to get to the parking lot.
6:50pm - We park, I'm dragging a happy princess through the snowy downtown.
6:57pm - Bathroom (it's been an hour and a half, after all).
6:59pm - We sit in our seats, closest seats that aren't on the floor.
7:05pm - In the seat next to me, Katy is bright eyed, watching Tinkerbell glide across the ice.
7:10pm - Now she's in my lap. Complaining that it's too loud.
7:12pm - Genie is pretty loud and there's smoke. Hands on the ears.
7:14pm - Uh-oh. The first villain, from Sleeping Beauty. Her head's in my lap.
7:18pm - She's pretty upset. We get up and move to the back.
7:20pm - Even in the back, she's really scared. Ursula from Little Mermaid is terrifying. Now we're standing with the ushers.
7:30pm - The usher gets her earplugs. His name is Howard.
7:45pm - We take a break in the lobby. We talk about the difference between real and pretend. Katy says she doesn't want to leave, but she's too scared to go in. She's completely sincere.
7:55pm - She picks cotton candy as her one treat for the evening. Even though it comes with a crown, I don't understand how Disney thinks they can charge $10 for sugar and air.
8:15pm - After intermission, Katy feels brave enough to give it another try. We still go back and forth to the lobby several times, and I fight back tears at the vision I had for the evening.
8:45pm - Finally, Cinderella wins her over. Not too scary, and we actually SIT in the backrow for the final 20 minutes of the show.
9:15pm - Trudging back through downtown, fielding comments about my princess from guys leaving the bars (they were really nice, actually).
9:20pm - Brushing and scraping the new snow from the car, and getting creative since 2 of the 4 doors are frozen shut.
9:35pm - Send Brian a text that we're on our way.
9:50pm - I still wimp out on taking the highway, and the roads are still terrible. There's no school tomorrow, they announce.
10:00pm - Lots more comments from the backseat about what is taking so long. Why oh why didn't I bring Blankie?
10:30pm - We pull in the driveway and I am so relieved. Katy tells Brian about it like it was the perfect evening.
10:45pm - After she collapses in bed, I tell Brian that despite the struggles, I'm still glad that we went. It's certainly an evening that I will never forget.
3 comments:
I'm glad that even with her fears Katy had a good time. I'm actually thinking about taking Zachariah to see the Imagination Movers in Columbus at the end of March. Not sure I want to do it by myself though. Matt will be getting back from his mission's trip the next day, so we'd just stay there to pick him up at the airport. But I'm worried about finding downtown parking and sitting through the whole thing with just him and me. But I know he'd love it, so I'm still thinking about it.
If it was a memorable time for her, you succeeded. Luckily, kids don't have the same expectations that we do. I think they are much easier to please that grown-ups. That's why they are fun to be with!
Man - I can totally related to that vision vs. reality disappointment. That happened to me in a big way recently and, oddly enough, I can't remember what it was about...
This is one of those blog posts you can pull out in the future as evidence of your dedication to your children. I'm glad Katy remembers it as being a Good Time! and that you made it there and back safely.
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