Dragons

When I find myself with all of my work done, I often aimlessly search the Internet looking for contests. I will enter just about anything, but I am particularly fond of those which require an essay. I theorize that the odds are more in my favor for contests that require a written submission. Writing requires time and, to be honest, I think that many people will simply not bother.  My blog becomes my secret weapon. After all,I have written over 1,000 blog posts and have covered just about every topic. It's easy for me to modify a post to fit a contest entry.

Several weeks ago I stumbled upon a contest to win tickets to the Dreamworks production of How to Train Your Dragon. I've seen the advertisements for the show and knew that Robby would relish seeing the life sized dragons soar through the arena. I filled out the application, attached a quickly modified blog post about the movie, crossed my fingers, and hit send.

I had forgotten about the contest until I opened my email Friday morning. Low and behold, I won the tickets!  Robby started jumping up and down when I told him that we won. The fact that he didn't know what contest nor did he know the prize, was irrelevant to his excitement. I just love his enthusiasm!

Saturday morning Robby woke up at 6 AM asking if it was time to go into the city to see the dragons. Our tickets weren't until the 3:00 show and, not having a large grasp on time yet, it must have seemed like an eternity for him. Every 10 minutes he was asking if it was time to go. When we finally said yes, he hopped off the couch and ran to the garage. I made him come back to put on his pants and shoes!

After finding our seats in the arena, we were almost immediately approached by an usher and offered better seats. While our free tickets were good, the new upgraded seats were phenomenal. We were under the "dragon zone," which meant that the mythical creatures flew over our heads, and we felt the heat from their fire breathing.

Robby was mesmerized throughout the show. He simply kept saying, "This is so awesome" every time another dragon appeared. His running commentary made my heart smile! He was completely awe struck.

During intermission an adult overheard Robby talking about the dragons and callously informed him that they were not real. Robby looked at him with a confused expression and retorted, "Of course they're real. Didn't you see them fly? Didn't you feel the fire? I mean, just look in the air and you will see them!"  I'm so glad that he was oblivious to the wires and cranes responsible for their flight!

The dragons made an impression on Robby, but I made an impact on just about every child that I passed in the arena. The hero of the story, a young lad named Hiccup, loses his leg in a dragon fight. Seeing my prosthetic, I had more than one child ask if I lost my leg in a dragon fight. I simply smiled and said that you have to be careful with the tails because they are really sharp. Needless to say I was probably the coolest Mom in the arena because I was elevated to "dragon fighter" status.

During the scene where Hiccup is fit with his leg, Robby looked at me and whispered, "That's not a real prosthetic Momom because it's too easy for him. If he really just got his prosthetic it would be more hard for him to walk." I had to smile. He is utterly convinced that the dragons were authentic, flying and spitting fire in the arena, yet he knew that the prosthetic was fake because Hiccup wasn't struggling. He certainly has a unique perspective for a six year old.


We had a wonderful time at the show! Robby has been chatting all weekend about the dragons zooming through the air. The experience certainly made an impression on him, and he loved it more than I anticipated. I'm so glad that I entered the contest and winning has only motivated me to enter more. I think I'll start looking for opportunities to win a pool.