A Trip to the Theatre

Toby had his first “cultural experience” this weekend.  His beloved Grandma Lynda brought me up to be a well rounded cultural child by torturing me with numerous “special trips” to the symphony, the ballet, Stratford plays and all kinds of luxuries that required me to sit still, not talk and pay attention for hours and hours on end.  Or so it seemed.  I don’t think I truly appreciated how lucky I was until well after I had learned to tolerate, then enjoy and then later on love all of the things she exposed me to.

I am so pleased to know that she holds the same standards for her grandchildren and that they too will learn the art of patience through varying forms of “cultural experiences”.

Not wanting to get him too excited too far in advance, Grandma phoned Toby on Wednesday night to invite him out with her to the theatre and then lunch at Boston Pizza afterwards.  He was SO excited.  The whole family was down in Toronto for this event but it was only Toby and Grandma who set out for the big adventure on Saturday morning,

Toby chose to wear his finest pants and his black plaid sweater.  He put them on secretly in his room and came downstairs proudly flaunting his smart outfit to us.  I took the token picture with him excitedly (and somewhat nervously) standing proudly beside Grandma before they set out.

I don’t know if it was the excitement in the air, the smartness of their dressy outfits or just the joy of seeing two people you love so much revel in the pure excitement of doing something special together, but it was a fulfilling moment for ALL of us.  I returned home from my own adventures to meet an excited Toby and Grandma eager to tell me about the various details of their day.

I have to admit, a lot of the details centered around what pizza they ate and who won the checker game at Boston Pizza but there were intermingled quips about Princesses, balloons and evil step mothers to prove they HAD seen a children’s play as well.

After his exhausting day Grandma was the obvious choice for bedtime routine and she took him upstairs to read him stories.  After the stories they snuggled into bed and reminisced about their day.  Toby politely thanked my mom and then very sweetly but apprehensively said, “Grandma?  Um…I actually didn’t really like the play all that much.”

My mom was surprised but pleased with this sudden burst of candor, so maturely timed.  The funny thing was that she agreed; it HADN’T been that great of a play.  She told Toby that she appreciated his honesty and that she hadn’t actually liked it all that much either.

Toby let out a deep breath he had likely been holding in since about noon.

“OH, GOOD, Grandma,” he said with relief.  “Cause I actually didn’t like it AT ALL.”