home for the holidays

I can't count the number of times I called and texted my son this week asking variations of the same question:

"What time will you be home on Friday?"

Finally, around eleven last night, I get a text, " i'm proly taking the 6 bus."

I work all day and figure, with holiday traffic and all, Alexander won't be home before nine."

So I eat dinner alone, having skipped lunch.

But then, surprise, surprise. There's little traffic and my son is home from Philadelphia by 8:30. He grabs some sushi. Watches some football. Then says, "What movie do you want to watch?"

I have just about every single new movie.

But we don't want something too long.

Or too depressing.

Or too violent.

Or that doesn't have a 90% or better rating on Rotten Tomatoes (his criteria, not mine).

Alexander picks a movie he's seen. One he loves. One that has a 98% RT score. One he finally convinces me to watch, even though it's not my kind of movie. It's animated. Aside from The Flintstones, I never even liked cartoons as a kid. 

But there's something to be said for just hanging out with your 24-year old son, and seeing him laugh, while pointing out all the clever nuanced bits that he thinks I might be missing. Zootopia turns out to be a smart, charming film, made better by the audience I watch it with.

And who can't love a movie where all the workers at the DMV are personified as slow-moving sloths?