Family date night

We had a nice Father's Day weekend (this man above is such a good daddy), starting with a night on the town for the 3 of us Friday night. We took Macauley to dinner downtown at Bijan's then we went to see the highly-anticipated Toy Story 3. Excellent movie. So poignant. So clever. Funny, too.

My favorite character has always been the anxious T-Rex. I love how he nervously wrings his little palms together and asks all sorts of questions. Macauley likes the little aliens and has been saying "The Claw!" like they do since. The plot centers around the toys' boy Andy leaving for college and figuring out what to do with his beloved childhood toys. This, of course, hit a soft spot with me, thinking about my own sweet boy taking off someday, too. What will become of his bunny Kenny and his Blankie? What will I do when I don't know he is snuggled up with them upstairs in his bed each night, when I know I won't know where he is at all times? I tried to hold in my tears during the most emotional scene in the movie, but they puffed out in one big, ugly, audible sob and everyone nearby turned to look at me.

I went through with the haircut. It's much shorter than I anticipated and I'm having a little trouble adjusting to seeing a bob when I look down at my shadow. But I suppose change is good. Everyone says it's "cute." Do I want to be "cute" at 33? Would I rather be "pretty" or "chic" or something more grown up and sophisticated? I don't know... At least it's blonde, and that has always felt like home to me. Macauley asked me why I did it. He doesn't adapt that well to change sometimes. But he later told me it looked pretty. He's just as tan as can be from all the hours he's already spent at our neighborhood pool. He's a confident and capable swimmer this summer, which is awesome. He got home from a swimming date with Megan yesterday and got up on the kitchen island to make sugar cookies with me. We were talking about him being 7 and how many days 7 years is (2,555) and he kind of sighed and raised his eyebrows and said, "I've done a lot of things in my life." I suppose he has. He's a lucky boy who's had some cool opportunities. But he's got so much ahead of him...good, so good, and, inevitably, bad. I want to keep him with me as long as possible. Keep him little.

"A happy childhood can't be cured. Mine'll hang around my neck

like a rainbow, that's all, instead of a noose."
~Hortense Calisher