Movies were a big part of life with DJ. When he was an infant Pudding and I would bring him to the matinee showings of the latest releases, and with a pair of ear muffs on he’d snuggle in his carrier to watch or sleep through the latest action packed movie. Going to the movies in Pennsylvania was a big deal, because we did it very rarely. Finally, the fact a movie theater opened up across the street made the winter weekends fly by with buckets of popcorn, Twizzlers with nacho cheese, and over sized sodas he would use both hands to pick up as we were sucked out of a seemingly mundane existence and into fantastical new worlds.

DJ was a big fan of Shrek, along with Monsters Inc., Spider-Man, and Hellboy. He, like his father, was also a huge Star Wars fan and it was not uncommon to watch Attack of the Clones on television before going to see Revenge of the Sith… which we saw in theaters a whopping 5 times.

Today is the release of the fourth Shrek movie. I’m not going to be seeing it.

Probably not ever.

I prefer to think that the last one DJ saw, Shrek the Third, was the last one. Otherwise it causes a punch to my gut thinking that he missed out on a Shrek experience.

Maybe I’m wrong for feeling that way… but that’s just the way I feel.

I prefer to remember my Shrek times with DJ as the good times they were…

… as opposed to sitting in a theater surrounded by a gazillion people and still feeling alone.

Ogres aren’t the only ones like onions, dontcha know?