By Celeste Yvonne 
Last night I found myself in a very hard spot of parenting. I felt overwhelmed and defeated. I had been tried to my very core by my two young boys that day, and I needed to escape.
“Can you watch the boys?” I said to my husband as he walked through the door form the garage.
He kissed me and asked where I was going, but I said I wasn’t sure yet.
I found my way to the movie theater. I haven’t seen a movie by myself since before my kids were born, but something drew me there.
As I looked at the listing of movies, I saw Frozen 2 was being played every 15 minutes for the entire night. I quickly realized it was the movie’s opening night.
My boys had already expressed their disdain for the last movie. When I asked them earlier this week if they wanted to see the new movie, they said yes but only if “Anna and Elsa aren’t in it.” Then they started laughing and snickering to each other as only siblings do.
So last night, I walked into the packed theater and found a lone seat next to a little girl gripping her Anna doll closely.
I was expecting a movie about Anna and Elsa, because—well, duh—but I was pleasantly surprised to see the ** tiny spoiler alert ** backstory of the girls’ parents in the movie. How they met, a little about their background, and an even a better understanding of how they died.
By the end of the film, the central theme of the timeless bond between a mother and her children was simply captivating. I am not ashamed to say I shed a tear or two thinking about my own bond with my mom, and how it will always be a powerful relationship between us, even after one of us goes.
And Disney yet again stunned me with their ability to make non-romantic love the central focus of their film. First it was the love between sisters, and for Frozen 2, it’s the infinite love of a mother (and some more about sisters, because it’s Anna and Else we’re talking about here!).
Congrats to Disney for knocking another one out of the park. We all know that romantic love is a beautiful thing, and we can find that in pretty much every other Disney flick of our childhoods. But a love between a mother and her kids? That’s something I will watch again and again.
The next morning, I told my kids I’d sneaked off to the movies without them to see Frozen 2. They were nonplussed as I shared just how much fun it was, and what I learned about Anna and Elsa’s parents. Again, crickets.
But as soon as I told them about the earth giants? They were all in. Looks like we will be heading back to the theater this weekend. I can’t wait for my kids to see this beautiful story of family and connection, and how love lives on long after death.
And yes, lots of earth giants.
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