the high school musical phenomenon

ok, i've been kind of avoiding actually WRITING anything about this because it freaks me out a little and then it also illustrates the freak i kind of am sometimes.... but maybe i'll quit getting palpitations when i think about it if i just get it out.

this movie, high school musical...i'd only heard some mamas on a board talk about it once and it was because their daughters--like, their 8 year old daughters--really loved it and couldn't stop watching it, etc... so that was the end of consideration for me. i have four sons in the house. cinderella has never been shown here, nor snow white, nor barbie stuff....so i just didn't think hsm would make it to our screens, either. transformers? sure.... superman? as much as we can get. (even though lois makes me uncomfortable, too...but that's a different thing altogether) but high school musical just didn't concern me....

so, my husband rented it. now, i don't know if i've put here how one of the things i loved most about N is that he was the best girlfriend i ever had. he is many things, but he is somewhat in touch with his feminine side....likes to sing show tunes, etc.... so when he came home with high school musical for the kids (for the FOUR MALE KIDS)...i don't know...it just kind of tickled me.

so, they've watched it everyday since we got it...some days twice. i think superman got watched once and then no more. teenage mutant ninja turtles might have gotten watched three times while we had it... but it is a hsm marathon over here....

why am i freaking out? because it's so obvious for n that he likes the love story....the blossoming relationship being portrayed. i asked him if it made him want to go to high school...he said a tiny sliver, but not really. i've known it was getting time to start finding a circle he can lay some roots in, build some relationships in. and i think we're doing ok... but this movie activates my inner freak out about whether i am robbing my children of important opportunities to create and maintain friendships. they have each other, and i refuse to downplay that...because i do think they are great friends. and i think that's huge and great and wonderful. but i do think n needs some friends who are closer to his age, maybe even older, to share some with. but how rational is that? looking for a friend for my son with age as the main criteria? oy....

i want my kids to be happy. and that is changing. always is, but we've definitely crossed a thresh hold here, passed a milestone, whatever. talk about freak out...i've been thinking n was the main fan of this movie. i walked in last night and said, "i've never seen the beginning, can we back it up?" s says, "oh, that's the best part mom!" oh shit....so the nine year old is liking hsm too...

but i do want to say, hsm is a cute movie. i would've found it pretty cheesy a few years back, but now that i have these young men who are approaching adulthood, i appreciate that it's a cute relationship that moves at a reasonable pace and neither of the kids are screwing or even groping by the end of the movie. (which frankly, is probably how most of my relationships worked in high school...well, the groping part) so it's kind of liberating to see a healthy (i presume?) portrayal of a relationship not jumping into too deep of a commitment or too much intimacy. freak that i am, it seems i'm learning some stuff from high school musical. and i think this part scares me more than anything else. but i have to admit, i am so very motivated to learn how to guide my guys through relationships healthily and trust themselves that if i have to learn from hsm, i am not too ashamed. embarrassed as hell, but not ashamed....

anyway...i don't know how much great sense this post made...but i do feel somewhat better after writing it...
peace