Appreciating the Finer Points in Life

I want for Jude to have what I had growing up.  I want him to appreciate the same things I did in the same ways.  For instance, I want him to watch Star Wars in the real order, not the numerical way.  I want him to realize that Chewbacca will always be way cooler than Jar-Jar.  

I want Jude to play the original Nintendo before jumping headlong into the world of Wii.  There is the alarming fact that this generation of kids will in no way know that to fix any video game, you just have to blow hard enough on it for it to work.  I want to watch his face the first time he sees Mario in three dimensions after playing his 8 bit predecessor.


I saw something shocking the other day and it made me a little sad.  There were at least 8 young guys on my street playing tackle football in their yard.  The sad part was that this was the first time ever I had seen this in my neighborhood.  I want a few skinned knees and dirty jeans for my boy.


I was six years old when I first went to Walt Disney World.  It was the most magical, amazing vacation of my childhood.  It would be at least ten years before I would go back.  When I was young I would actually dream about living there.  


Now I do.


Well, about thirty minutes from it, but you get the point.  I have been there at least twice a year for the past four years now.  It is still magical, but I think it may be that way because of the nostalgia of my first experience there.  I want this magic for my son.  I also want him to realize that most of the families there that look totally exhausted are that way because they have been on a nonstop marathon of magic to get as many memories in four days as possible, because that will be it for their kid's childhood.  Those kids from the middle states, will only get to see Disney World again from the commercials and family photos.  They will soon forget the way the water in Pirates of the Caribbean smells, but if they are anything like me, they will hold on to the appreciation that for one week in their childhood, their parents made it completely about them.


So how do I differentiate Mickey Mouse from Chuck E. Cheese?  I actually thought of convincing Jude, until he is about 5 years old that Disney is 1,000 miles away and then one day waking up and say that we're going to Disney World.


The truth is, I don't have the time or energy to create a Truman Show-like bubble for my child in the next five years.  He has been to Universal Studios within the first 60 days of his life.  He has caught more than a couple of glimpses of his Dad playing Mario Galaxy 2, and he may even grow up to think that pod racing is cooler than the Death Star.  I want the standard things of my childhood to impress Jude as much as they did me, but I guess that is not realistic.  Maybe it is not a bad thing though.  Maybe some of my favorite things will rub off on him.  Maybe a few of his favorite things will rub off on me and I'll be a more well rounded person.


If he doesn't like The Beatles though, he might go to boarding school.