“Mom! Mom! MOM!”

It was discombobulating. I was forcibly being shaken awake, from a deep, early morning slumber, by one overly excited child.

photo by Leighann Giles

“The CROODS! The CROODS! They are back, Mom! It’s a N E W movie!!!”

Other than Christmas morning this was one of the first times, in ten years of parenthood, that I’d been shaken awake.

For nothing less than a family of cave people.

But I felt the excitement deep within my own Neanderthal soul.

Instead of yelling that I hadn’t had my coffee yet, I sat straight up and started looking up the information on my phone and cheered that the entertainment industry was gifting us this gem.

It’s the little things in life now, right? Pre-covid we would all have been pumped about the new Croods movie. But now, in this time when all the world seems upside down, the premier of the sequel of one of our favorite family movies, seems top level.

And so fitting.

This year has been a return to basics. A return to family. A return to home.

An embracing of the crazy.

It’s straight up bonkers every day at my house. I have a 10-year-old, 7-year-old, 4-year-old, and a “born in the middle of a pandemic” 6-month-old little gal. Home with me 24/7.

Sharpie markers grace my walls as modern-day cave markings.

My entire days seem to be spent hunting and gathering and preparing food (thank YOU grocery store pickup for making that a bit easier).

Life is WILD.

I relate to the Crood family. I wake up every day with four things in mind: FEED them. LOVE them. KEEP THEM SAFE. And TEACH them survival skills along the way (this equates to all ends of the spectrum- from 4^th grade long division and to making sure my four-year-old can wipe his tushy).

All in a day’s survival, right?

It’s probably not too different than what the prehistoric mama felt. This focus on the most basic human requirements when it comes to mothering. I am making a bit of a S T R E T C H, but you get the picture.

Mama, is this your mission right now, too? Making sure basic needs are met? I fail daily at keeping my house in tip-top shape. I fail daily at being all I can be for my friends and extended family. I fail daily if I tried to measure my life by the litmus test of what was important to me pre-covid.

But now, in this new normal, my perspective has shifted.

And so has the perspective of my kids.

A movie is once again a big-time deal and not something that seems ordinary. It’s a treat. A treasure. And exciting adventure out of our cave and into the world.

I don’t know if we will catch this family film when it comes to a streaming service or if we will venture out and put together a carload at our local Swingin’ Midway drive-in (Yes, we have an old school drive-in where we live!).

The pandemic has been a crude awakening for us all. But I do know that one of the silver linings, one of the finding joy in spite of the trial, one of the rainbows in the storm has been bonding with my own little cave people. This time has made me need botox, but also has brought me smiles upon smiles.

I love my little cavepeople.

Even if they do wake me up, what I now call my CROOD AWAKENING, from a deep sleep to tell me about a new movie.

A movie I can’t wait to see with my crazies.