This life is a great adventure. This is how we live: Seize opportunities. Follow passions. Choose colour. Love hard. Just go!
When I heard the Lion King was coming to Melbourne I didn’t hesitate to buy tickets. I believe in prioritising big life experiences. And I had an inkling that this experience would be imprinted in my children’s memory for their lifetime.
Yesterday was the day. We stepped into the great adventure. Awesome doesn’t even cut it. It was unbelievably, extraordinarily, ridiculously AWESOME.
With me was Miss A and Mr J, six and four. Half the excitement was the anticipation. Knowing their little minds were about to be blown! What I didn’t account for was my mind was about to be blown too.
We made it a whole day thing. A day off school and Kindergarten for the kids, big drive to the city, special lunch, and the show in the afternoon.
Miss A is the artist and the enthusiast. She is also my little consumer, and I knew the pressure would be on to purchase merchandise. But you know what? I embraced it. How often does one get to go to a world class musical? She could have two things, so she chose a t-shirt and the-most-expensive-pencil-case-in-the-world (with textas and sketch pad). Mr J has no consumeristic tendencies and was happy with nothing. (Hooray!)
Miss A changed into her shirt immediately. She proudly displayed it for the red carpet photo opp. Miss Lion King. Queen of Her Imagination. And as for Mr J… well, he is the King of Hilarious Underwhelming Expressions.
It was worth waiting five months to get the right seats. Eight rows from the front, on the aisle. I was happy!
Just a little bit excited…
And then the show began. I won’t ever forget the look on my kids’ faces when they saw the huge elephant walking down the aisle RIGHT next to them! Followed by lions and wilderbeests. The opening number was goosebump material. We were mesmerised. Completely slayed by African voices, drums, colour, movement, and music.
We couldn’t take photos of the show, so this official footage is all I can share. It is SO good.
At intermission we were so hungry. Did you know that nothing tastes as good as choc-top ice creams at the intermission of the Lion King? Nope. Nothing.
We got home last night, exhausted to the bone, but our hearts so full.
We looked through the tour programme again and again, re-living our favourite moments of the show. So many conversations about “Who was your favourite?” and “What was the best part?”. (I’m a bit of a Rafiki and Timon fan, by the way).
And that most-expensive-pencil-case-in-the-world? Miss A was drawing even before the show began. Watching her creative spirit express her great adventure? Priceless.
There’s nothing quite like the high of living fully. Let me never hesitate in grabbing the experience. Just go!
