Monday, May 08, 2006

Step aside, Mom!

Just as my little song called "First Day of School" seems to be growing up and out into the world, the little boy who inspired it is doing the same thing, and with no help from me of course.

This afternoon, Tucker (turning 12 in August) will be spending the day at TVOntario, sitting in with the production team of TVO Kids. It's his prize for winning the TVO Young Filmmakers' Award a few weeks ago for his animated short film, "Spiders".

I love this film. It's simple and pleasant, and it has a happy ending. Actually it doesn't have a "happy" ending exactly, no big dramatic epiphany, but it doesn't have a dramatically tragic one either such as a foot stomping on the spider. One of the judges told us it was that fact--that the spider doesn't meet a tragi-comic demise as expected--that decided the win.

I like the fact that "Spiders" was made for fun, that the contest entry was an afterthought, and that the win was an utter surprise. It reminds me that positive and steady steps in the right direction often lead to happy surprises. ("When I walk, I run..." etc.)

It's funny, of course, that Tucker would be invited to "spend a day in a TV Studio!!!!" as a prize. As if nobody in his family has ever spent any time in tv studios...and have actually turned corners to walk into new places.

Calla, too, loves television... On our last trip to Winnipeg, she fell in love with the studio at the Children's Museum. Immediately at home, she took charge and directed strangers, read the news and reported the weather.

The weather today is sunny.

We notice that children are rewarded for these artistic things, encouraged early on, and any clouds of "what on earth do I do with this artistic talent?" are far off in the distance.

The spider walks happily on, and so do we.

I have to run now, to drive Tucker to TVO.

"...happy down the street, up the stairs, cross the hall, happy in the door..."

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