My wife left on Sunday to help her family back in Virginia.
That meant I’d be single-parenting for five days during one of the busiest months I’ve had in a long time. I can hear the mothers (including my wife) reading this, groaning with annoyance.
But many of my dad friends freak out if they have a day or two alone with their kids. One of my friends honestly admitted to me that he was hesitant to take our girls on an awesome double daddy-daughter date weekend trip because of having to parent solo.
I don’t feel that way.
It’s definitely challenging and makes me empathize with the superhumans who single-parent full time, but I thoroughly enjoy my alone time with my daughter. It generally allows us to deepen our relationship because the comfort of clinging to mommy is removed.
So this weekend, we started off like we would any weekend by ourselves.
We spent the 70 degree day walking around the neighborhood, playing outside, digging in the sand, spraying each other with the water hose, and just running around being silly.
But in the mid-afternoon, there was a major temperature shift and the clouds overtook the sun.
With a lot of day left to fill, I had a thought.
Could this be the day? Could I actually pull it off?
Since my daughter BB was born, I’ve wanted to share my most treasured activity with her: watching a movie in a theater.
Technically my first movie (E.T.) was when I was 2 weeks old, back in 1982 but according to my mom, I slept through the whole thing. There was a re-release when I was 5 years old, and that serves as my first memory in a theater — crying my eyes out while E.T.’s heart was lighting up red and pounding in his chest as his family’s ship pulled away and left him on Earth.
It’s been my favorite pastime since that moment.
The problem was that my daughter is not even three years old. Her attention span doesn’t even allow her to complete a 5 minute YouTube video. How would she make a 90 minute movie?
On top of that, she’s terrified of loud noises, so I was sure the surround sound system would be a deal breaker whenever we first tried the theater experience. I’ve thought she might be ready for almost a year now, but going out to public places hasn’t really been an option.
But Sunday I felt like we could give it a try and gave her my pitch.
I told her it was like a TV the size of a house, plus it was at the mall, her favorite place. She seemed to like that idea, so she agreed. I naturally pumped it up more than I should have.
We got there, ordered the popcorn I promised and I got her a chocolate milk, too, — bringing out the big guns as a bribe.
But soon as we walked up the ramp into the theater, the previews were blasting.
She immediately stopped walking and started saying “Nooo, noooo!” We almost left right then.
Luckily, I brought her headphones so that bought me some time. I put those on her ears, picked her up in one arm, and carried her bag, the popcorn, my drink and her drink in the other arm.
When we got to the back row to our recliner seats, I had to sit her down so I could place the food on the table. She lost it again, clinging to me with a death grip.
I thought that was definitely the moment it would all end.
I tried to calm her down and soothe her but she didn’t want to be out of my arms. So I sat her in my lap and she burrowed in it like it was a mother marsupial’s pouch.
She stared at the big screen, silent and unsure what to think of it. But when I placed the bag of popcorn in front of us, she knew just what to do with that.
Our movie, “The Croods: A New Age,” started and to my surprise, she didn’t cry. Not only that, she paid full attention, calling out the monster, and flowers, and bananas that she saw on the screen.
Maybe it was me. Maybe it was the popcorn and chocolate milk.
But she sat right there, tightly tucked into my lap, and watched every second of the movie with intent focus (and a hand in the popcorn bag). She loved it and my heart was elated.
Eventually she sat down in her own seat, though still snuggling close, and stood up in the seat three different times specifically to hug and kiss me.
I took it as her “thank you.”
For the quality time we had together. For a new and fun experience. And maybe for a thing that we will share for years to come.
It was a great day as a dad. Maybe my favorite ever.
Rain Bennett is a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, writer, and competitive storyteller with over a decade of experience producing documentary films that focus on health and wellness. His mission is simple: to make the world happier and healthier by sharing stories of change.
You can read the rest of “Right as Rain” here, and check back every Wednesday on Chapelboro for a new column!
