A Compliment From The Boy!

“There’s a genius right here who can fix things.”  Those words came out of the boy’s mouth last night, were directed at me, and were meant as a compliment (as he indicated with his next sentence.)

Let me begin with compliments from one’s children do not come all that often, so this one went straight to the heart.  Not to say that the boy isn’t caring or loving, he definitely is.  It is just that children do not typically think to compliment their parents.

Now, the context of his statement.  We were in Central Park awaiting the enjoyment of watching Disney/Pixar’s Planes.  As the movie began, the video was visible on the large screen, but at first there was no sound.  Then, the sound was fixed, but the volume wasn’t loud enough for the park.  Then, once the volume was fixed, we were only getting half of the audio—getting music and sound affects, and some dialogue.  Other dialogue was being missed. 

All of this was happening as darkness fell and the lights had been turned off in the park.  I knew the husband had a flashlight in his pocket so we offered it to one of the “volunteers” who might be able to help with the situation.  My thoughts were did they have the input/output cords plugged into the speakers correctly—you know, right/left.  The volume issue was initially solved when “they” discovered that there were volume buttons on the speakers that could be turned up. . . a discovery that was helped along with the supplying of our flashlight.

It was during this time that boy announced to everyone around him that his mom was a genius and could fix things.  And, while my heart softened at the statement, the mantra “I am not in charge” was being uttered from my lips.  Even others around me, beyond my own family, directed their frustrations towards me.  I listened and kept the mantra going. . . “I am not in charge.”

Why the mantra?  Well, I am a take charge person.  True confession.  Even before the movie started the boy was asking me, “When is the movie going to start?”  My reply was something along the lines of “I don’t know.  I am not in charge.”  You see, the boy is used to me being in charge or at least “in the know” so that I can answer his questions.

About 40 minutes into the movie, the problem was solved and we could then hear all of the dialogue.  We were some of the few in the park that stuck it out and we were glad we did, as I hadn’t seen the movie yet.  And, with the release of the new Planes movie coming this summer (that’s code for when we are on the Disney Fantasy), I wanted to have seen the first movie.

In the meantime, the boy’s words are still ringing in my ears and warming my heart!