When You Know What's Going to Happen...

We're in the middle if a major holiday road trip (2 days on the road to our destination), so the three year old gets pretty much unlimited access to movies and the iPad. He's in a phase where he's really sensitive to intense/scary things - even the opening credits of a Pixar film and parts of Builder Bob are "too scary" (no kidding!).

Nonetheless, we re-watched "Planes" in the car after first having watched it for his birthday two weeks ago. On that first occasion, there were many scenes during which I was required to sit next to or to hold on my lap a frightened little boy (only to be dismissed when the action let up - he did have two really cool friends by his side, after all). This time, he was in a car seat so I couldn't hold him (we just took off the headphones), but there were considerably fewer scary scenes that required momma's attention.

"It's a lot less scary when you know what's going to happen, isn't it, Tito?"

You know what? That's not just true of movies. If you live in the moment and that moment is as far ahead as you know with certainty, life is scary because the vast unknown future is truly fraught with scary things. The dark tunnel with the train rushing toward you, the storms, sinister competitors, sinking in the ocean (sorry, spoiler alert?). When you don't know the ending, every scary bit could be the end of the story for you. 

But every good story has plot twists that have you on the edge of your seat, feeling the tension and perhaps on the verge of despair (or in the pit of despair), before the plot resolves and we can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the "happily ever after."

We are part of the best (true) story ever written and the best part? We know the ending.