My daughter and I have a favorite saying when we are lucky enough to find a few unscheduled hours in our day.
“How about we get lost in Harrods?” we say, smiling at our inside reference.
It’s a line from the 1998 film remake of “The Parent Trap.”
The mother, a British fashion designer played by Natasha Richardson, is talking to her daughter, played by a young and still innocent Lindsay Lohan.
I loved that movie. And I loved Natasha Richardson.
Maybe the film touched me because I was a young mom with two kids under the age of 4 at the time the film was released.
I had crazy notions of motherhood, a result of sleep deprivation and an overindulgence of parenting books.
Even though I professed otherwise, I fantasized about being a perfect parent raising perfect kids who had impeccable manners, made good grades, cleaned their rooms without prompting, wrote thank you notes just because, and played with their siblings for the sheer joy of it.
Ridiculous.
This fleeting fantasy was quickly replaced by the reality of raising another human being while still trying to raise myself.
I mean, really, do we ever fully grow up?
I thought I had mastered the art of patience until my infant daughter decided it was far more fun to sleep all day and play the “Watch mom and dad go crazy at night” game while she cried until one of us held and rocked her at 2 a.m.
As my babies grew into school-aged kids, I realized I had room to grow in the trust department.
Children will survive elementary school without parents by their side.
Parents will make it, too.
But it’s not easy letting them go into the wild world of hurt feelings, bruised egos and faulty science projects.
I’m about to enter high school territory with my son.
I fully accept that I am not ready for some big-ticket life lessons.
Guess I’ll be sleep deprived once more as I wait for my kids to get home after … gasp … dating and … bigger gasp …driving.
“The Parent Trap” wasn’t exactly a picture of the perfect family.
But the mother-daughter scene where they plot to wile away a few hours in a department store struck a chord with me.
Still does.
Just the thought of getting lost anywhere with my kids gives me a peace like no other. Usually, we “get lost” at the grocery store, but it’s a way cool kind of lost because we spend as much time as we like, thank you very much, in the magazine section and try every single bakery sample …twice.
So, the sudden and tragic loss of Natasha Richardson last week felt personal. Her on-screen relaxed and elegant persona seemed like the real deal. Off screen, she was a wife who loved her husband, a mother who adored her sons, and a daughter inspired by her famously talented mother and family.
Life, like motherhood fantasies, can be fleeting. All the more reason to find a loved one and get lost.