Tonight as I sat in a Stabucks working on my book, one of the two (oops, three) Miley Cyrus songs that secretly exist on my iPod came on. It was the theme to a movie she made a few years back called The Last Song. The song for those of you already wincing that I'm writing about Miley is called When I Look At You.
Hate all you want. A good song is a good song, regardless. And I'm not taking shots at Miley either. Obviously Hannah Montana wasn't made for me and I have not opinion of it. And any of Miley's media exploits that may cast her in a less-favorable light, well, all I can say is what the hell did we expect would happen? You can't thrust all that on a young kid and expect them turn out normal and well-adjusted. The worst you can say is, well, it's cliche.
I have a special attachment to this particular song. In fact every time I hear, I still get a little misty. Because it makes me think of my son, and when I think about my kids, I often get emotional. They're the greatest achievements of my life and no matter what I do going forward, if I cure disease (which I won't), become President (which I don't wanna), or just become balls-out richer than the Pope (which I might) they will still hold their status.
The day I first heard that song was so important to me that I wrote it down afterwards. Never really knew why. I did show it to a dear friend, but otherwise it has sat in limbo for the last couple years. So tonight I thought I'd share it . . .
The actual event took place on April 22, 2010 - Earth Day. I know that because I took my son to the Disney Store where we turned in aluminum cans for a free Friends for Change hat.
A few weeks ago I had a day off during the week and took Sean up to WoodfieldMall for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. It's kind of our thing. After we ate, we of course went upstairs to the Disney store to nose around. Sean always does the same thing. First he makes a beeline for the Cars section and tells me we need to buy EVERYTHING.
When I finally convince him that we can't buy everything "this time" and he agrees to move on, he then goes right for these two little displays near the checkout counter. They are essentially two point-of-sale "junk" towers meant to trick us parents into spending just another $3 - $5 bucks before we leave. They're full of balls, wind up toys, key chains, etc. One side is geared toward little girls, housing mostly Princess merchandise. The other tower is all boy stuff. Sean would spend hours there, if he could. Taking out each little toy, pulling the cars back and letting them race across the store, oblivious to the many reasons he shouldn't.
As I stood there leaning on my empty stroller (Sean has to promise to stay in it when we walk through the mall as he tends to wander) I happened to look up and see a suburban housewife type, probably a couple years older than me. She was also piloting an empty stroller. Well, in hers was seated a pile of shopping bags. Another successful hunt while her husband was at work. But I looked over to the girls' toy tower, and there was this little Princess. Literally, a little brunette dressed in a turqouise Princess dress and slippers. She was twirling around the store and smiling and singing to herself.
And it turned out I wasn't the only one who noticed. I glanced over at Sean, who moments before was on his knees engrossed in every kind of plastic Buzz Lightyear, Handy Manny, and Stitch he could find. Now he was on his feet, fingers in his mouth, grinning at this little girl. My son is tall for his age, but I'm guessing she was probably his age or maybe a few months older by how well she spoke.
Just then the song "When I Look At You" by Miley Cyrus began to play on the big screen behind the registers.
The little Princess began to dance circles around my son. His big brown eyes never lost their gaze. She stopped in front of him as the music played and said "I'm Princess Ariel, and you're Prince Erik."
The mother and I caught each others' eyes and we both smiled. I don't know which of us had the glossiest set of eyes at that moment.
She danced around Sean again, and he kind of swayed to the music a little. He's normally not afraid to dance if the mood hits him, but it was like he was discovering something new. He wasn't sure what, but he liked it. His smile made that apparent. Again she said, but this time to me directly, "I'm Princess Ariel and he's Prince Erik."
I found myself actually speechless. And to be honest, on the verge of getting emotional. In a good way, but still. It wouldn't do for a grown man to come to tears in the Disney Store.
Finally the song ended and the girl and her mother moved on, but I caught both kids stealing glances for each other as we made our way around.
It was a strange moment where i felt like I should do something. But what do you do? There is nothing. My mind was saying get the woman's number so they can have a play date, or we can set them up in 13 years.
But honestly, there's nothing that wouldn't be creepy about me approaching that woman. No matter how innocent my intentions.
So we left. And it occurred to me. There was nothing to do. It was just one of those moments. Few and far between, they are, but when we are given them we're just meant to stand back and take it in. For a few minutes, my son had the perfect relationship. The purest love there ever was or will be. As a jaded grown-up, I was a little jealous.
And I vowed to remember that day, and when he's old enough, I'm going to tell about it and hope he understands what I'm saying. And I'm going to tell him "those are the moments to cherish. When you're older if you find yourself in a moment like that with a young lady, don't let it slip away."
He'll probably tell me I'm crazy, or just won't understand what I'm saying. But I hope he can find it. It's what we all should find but so many don't. Because we grow up. We forget, I guess. Or we just think it doesn't exist at all. Who knows?
Hmm.
Anyway, I wanted to get the story down in writing because every time I hear that song (ok listen to it on my ipod) I think of that day, and that little Princess who thought my boy was a Prince.
She was right, by the way.
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