Perfect

The weekend was really good but the highlight for me came from an unplanned detour on Saturday night.

After chasing The Phi around a birthday party we headed to one of my usual walking parks. Since The Phi had played for over 2 hours at the party we skipped the usual 20 minutes at the playground and instead just did my walk with The Phi in the stroller.

As we drove away from the park I noticed a sign that said "Movie in the Park Tonight". It was about 7:30 by this time and PR Dad was not scheduled to be home until 10:30 so I followed the signs. As we kept going I noticed families walking in the same direction with lawn chairs and coolers. I thought I would drive by and see what it was all about. I figured it would be some church kind of thing. But it wasn't. Just something this neighborhood does a few times during the summer.

We always have a blanket in the back of the car so we grabbed it and walked over to the festivities. I tried to explain to The Phi that we were going to check it out and see what movie they were going to play on the giant inflatable screen. Turns out they were playing Madagascar 2. Perfect we had not seen that movie yet.

Our timing could not have been more perfect. We got a great spot and the movie was starting in 15 minutes. We put down our blanket and walked over to the little booths they had set up. One was selling popcorn, water and candy all for $1 each. I never have cash on me but that day I had some. Perfect. We bought a popcorn a water and some m&m's. We got to the blanket at the perfect time, just as the movie started.

The sun had gone down and the unbearable heat was finally gone and the cool breeze was perfect. I got comfortable laying on my side propping my head up with my hand and The Phi sat with her back against me. We munched on popcorn, she shared some m&ms and finished our bottled water and laughed out loud at the movie. No telling her to eat, or stop, or come back, or sit still. Just us sitting, laughing and happy. Perfect. The movie ended and as the "Move It Move It" song came on my usually shy in public girl stood up and danced and despite my usual shyness I got up on my knees and danced with her.

All weekend I thought about that night. How our timing for the movie was perfect. We left the party at the right time to get my walk done and get to the movie and just the right time. I know it was such a simple little thing, a movie in the park, but I think it was one of those times that I will remember for the rest of my life.

When Sophia is an adult I will remember that perfect night in the park when she was 4 years old. How we laughed and she looked at me with her brown eyes shining. How her little body felt leaning against me and how we danced. And how it was perfect.