how musicals crushed ben's spirit

so, this week is the annual Off The Lake cabaret here at Ohio State.
if you have been reading for a while, you will know that this service-based musical theatre student organization is near and dear to my heart.

i love me some theatre.
especially musicals.
last night, i received an email from anth's school district highlighting a theater-based day camp being offered on an upcoming school holiday.
i was excited to share it with him.
he listened to my email and immediately started to freak out and beg me not to send him.
(boo.)
(although, in fairness, i also don't like being on stage. i want him to go to get over this fear earlier in life than i did.)
benny immediately started to run in circles around the room yelling, "i want to go sing and dance!"
(watch what you ask for kid.)

recently, i have been listening to a lot of folk music, but i wanted to get into the spirit for some musical theatre fun this weekend.
the first CD i grabbed out of my pile in the car door was Thoroughly Modern Millie.
fun.
festive.
and more appropriate for car rides with the boys than Spring Awakening and other more recent shows.

ben and i have been listening to this for a few days now during our rides in to work in the morning.
(bern and i have a strategic plan for both pick up and drop off, so i'm ben on the way in and anth on the way home.)

we had two. . . "moments". . . today related to this show.

the first one involved me being reminded that  my hair is gray for a reason.
this one came when i tried to describe to benny that the tap sequence in the show sounds like a typewriter.
and he said, "what's a typewriter?"
and i replied with, "i can google that for you later."
womp.

the second one was harder to resolve.
this one came when, based on a question benny asked, i had to explain that Millie was not  a real person.
because, unlike benny had previously believed, Thoroughly Modern Millie is not, in fact, a true story.
this literally upset him.
to the point that i was squatting outside of his door in the daycare parking lot, coaxing him to get out of the car and face the day.
it's a harsh reality.
people won't always break out in an oddly appropriate, and pre-choreographed, song to help you face life's issues, benny.
but this gal thinks the world would be a whole lot better if they did.