I fear for my Mum.  She took a turn for the worse last night, her chest infection worrying the medics.  My Dad by her side… she rallied.  She sleeps…   She is safe here and now.

 

I fear for Tom returning to school tomorrow.  Although I needn’t.  He is having far too much on his crutches…

 

With no football or rugby or running about allowed, we went to the cinema.

 

A sweet film with a message I am sure purely for me.

 

The Good Dinosaur… made the boys laugh… made me reflect.

 

The little dinosaur, Arlo, is born timid.  The little dinosaur is kept timid by the actions of his parents to protect him.  It is only when his father is swept away by a flood and the little dinosaur is left lost in the wilderness to defend for himself, does he learn determination, strength and the ability to fend for himself.

 

He faces his fear of the unknown, overcomes obstacles to get food and find his way home.

 

Before he died, his father had gently coaxed the frightened little dinosaur in to a wide open field and said to him words that have stuck with me..

 

‘You need to get through fear to see the beauty on the other side’…

 

As he said that, he swished his tail and out of the grasses floated up millions of glow bugs that lit up the sky… and lit up the little dino’s eyes.  A powerful message and image.

 

On his adventure to return home, he befriends a family of T-rex who save him from the pterodactyls.  Big Daddy T-Rex had some good fireside advice too…

 

‘If you aren’t afraid, you aren’t alive.  You can’t stop fear but you can use it to find out what you are made of…’

 

So while I am worried for my Mum… worried for her fearing what is next… I hear Daddy Dinosaur’s words and imagine my mum in a field lit up with glow bugs… That is totally her kind of heaven…

 

And while I worry for Tom and the current battle of the boys in the playground, I hear Big Daddy T-rex… this experience will show Tom what he is made of.  I know he is made up of part Mortimer, part Brooks… In my book, there is no stronger character…   But just like the film, I / we have to let Tom overcome his own fears, face his own battles, harness his inner strength and determination and stand up for himself.

 

Every nasty word, taunt, punch, kick to the goollies and broken bone will make him in to a stronger man.  Stronger in compassion, stronger in will and determination.   Each time he gets back up and gets back in the playground will show him and others what he is made of. It will make him a warrior.

 

Fighting talk from me… Watching won’t be easy…