Lessons learned...

...And a movie review...

There are so many lessons to be learned everyday and I've been reminded of a very important lesson while watching Meet the Robinsons with my boys tonight; family is what you make of it.  Leave it to the wonderful world of Disney to make it so easily apparent. 

If you haven't seen this movie yet, I'll sum it up for you. 

***Spoiler Alert***

In this particular animated film an inventive boy is orphaned as a baby and after 12 years and several (124, to be exact) meetings with possible adoptive parents, the boy gives up on trying to please prospective parents and sets his sights on recalling the memory of his mother so that he can find her and reunite with the one person he is sure will love him.  In order to do this he puts all of his efforts into inventing a memory scanner that can pull a memory from his sub-conscience from a specific time entered into the machine.  Specifically, 12 years, 3 months and 11 days prior... the day he was given up. When he completes work on his machine he feels that the best place to unveil his new invention is at his school's science fair.  Little does he know that because of this memory scanner he will become one of the most successful inventors of the future.  And little does he know that one of his future inventions gone bad has come back from the future to stop him from being credited with this invention.  The second twist comes in when we find out that the boy's son has come back from the future too to help his dad become the person he knows he should be. 

As the story unfolds, the viewer is introduced to a number of colorful, unique characters from the future that capture your heart and make you laugh.  The stories turning point comes when the future family realizes that the boy from the past is their patriarch.  He must be sent back in an effort not to alter the space time continuum...obviously.  After all the ins and outs and back and forth, thwarted bad guys, and with the first lesson of the movie setting in that no matter what, you must always "keep moving forward," the main character finally gets the chance to meet the mother that abandoned him on the front step of the orphanage...and he chooses not to.  He doesn't need to meet her anymore. He knows that he already has a family waiting on him, he just hasn't met them yet. Or he has, but he doesn't know how they will all fit together. 

Finally, we end up back at the science fair and the boy unveils his memory scanner which works perfectly.  We also find out that at this same science fair, his adoptive parents find him and they are all exactly where they should be, just as they should be; together.  The movie closes with Rob Thomas' Little Wonders and scenes of a little boy who finally has a place and feels accepted.  

This was a wonderfully touching moving that pulled at my heartstrings and yes, I'll admit it, I cried.  I couldn't help myself.  I think that everyone has felt like they don't belong at one point or another and when you finally find a square hole to fit your square peg it feels amazing.  Family is what you make of it.  Family does not need to be blood born; blood does not define family.  Being together with those you love defines family, it doesn't matter where they came from or how you came to be together, all that matters is that you're together, happy, and love each other. 

Let it go, let it roll right off your shoulder
Don't you know, the hardest part is over?
Let it in, let your clarity define you
In the end we will only just remember how it feels

Our lives are made in these small hours
These little wonders, these twists and turns of fate
Time falls away but these small hours
These small hours still remain

Let it slide, let your troubles fall behind you
Let it shine until you feel it all around you
And I don't mind if it's me you need to turn to
We'll get by, it's the heart that really matters in the end