Ever since I even imagined being a parent, I always dreamed of sharing a love of movies with my kids. I grew up watching movies and primarily sharing in a love of them with my mom, who showed me some of the best movies ever made. She was never an intellectual or a film critic, but just a lover of good stories. I was really excited to share that same love with my son when he came around.

Fast forward eight years and he does love movies. He will sit with me and watch them sometimes but he also can easily do something else. It takes a lot of convincing to get him to watch something with me. I mean, he’s a kid and some of the things I try to get him excited about just aren’t in his wheelhouse. I haven’t been able to talk him into Back to the Future yet, and The Goonies wasn’t quite the hit I was hoping it would be. He also doesn’t really watch things over and over like I did when I was younger. He’s quick to move on to something else or to go wandering back to YouTube.

One of my favorite movie series of all time that I could not wait to share was Indiana Jones. If there is a set of movies that encompasses all the things I love, it’s the Indiana Jones series. There is a sense of adventure, a die hard spirit, an everyman hero, and lots of punching evil in the face. I mean, who wouldn’t want all of that?! Sam likes it, but it just isn’t a thing he’s wrapped his whole existence around like me. I’m okay with that. He’s his own person after all. But I would really love for him to at least like it a little bit with me.

Here we are with a new Indiana Jones movie coming right up on us. It’ll be here in less than two months and I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am about it. I asked Sam if he would go see it with me and he said, “Well, I’ll go so I can have some candy.” Oh man, sick burn. He wants the candy more than the movie. Again, I pulled myself together and just said, “Sure, buddy. I’ll just be glad for you to be there with me.” Hurt, but not super hurt. I figured I could handle it, and I can’t expect him to love everything I do. That’s unreasonable.

Over the weekend, we went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which all by itself is pretty dang amazing. Before the movie started, we got a giant IMAX screen preview of the new Indiana Jones trailer. I was super excited to see it on the big screen like that. During the big crescendo of the iconic John Williams score, which will always make me well up a bit, Sam leans over and says, “Daddy, I’m really excited to see that with you. Not just for the candy. It looks really cool.”

Welp…it was over for me after that. John Williams score, my kid telling me he wants to see the movie with me…cue the waterworks. I just sat over there, tearing up and lost in my own joy for a solid two minutes.

I say all this to say, it’s the little things that really make the most monumentous impact. You never know what simple thing you might say to somewhat that just changes how they view things. I’m going to share a movie experience with my little man, and its shaping up to be one amazing adventure.