CHAPTER 1 | The Invitation

I climbed into bed before 11pm. This was early by my standards. But it had been a long day of shuffling the kids to and from school, and my daughter’s kindergarten graduation was the next morning.

I leaned over the side of my bed and reached for my phone charger. As I plugged my phone in I did one more quick refresh of my email account.

A single new message loaded and the subject line immediately jolted me from my drowsiness.

“Disney Invites You to Los Angeles! 6/20-6/22.”

I blinked, refreshed the screen, and took a deep breath trying to refocus on reality. Did I already fall asleep? Was I in the middle of one of those good dreams you hate waking up from?

I quickly read through the rest of the message.

“We are looking to invite 25 of our top Bloggers to Los Angeles… to walk the red carpet at THE BFG premiere…to also interview talent and filmmakers at the press junket!”

Now I was officially awake.

I’ve been an unofficial Disney movie critic for years. Sharing my top Disney movies rankings and transcribing Lil’ J’s take on the new Disney films. It doesn’t have anything to do with baby making, but in my family it has a lot to do with making memories. Now THIS is a big memory in the making.

Steven Spielberg, one of the best directors of all time is directing his first Disney movie. I mean what if I accidentally bump into him on the red carpet get to meet him?

After I processed the email for another two hours and messaged a few of my close friends about the opportunity, I finally went to sleep–half expecting to wake up the next day and realize the whole thing had been a dream.

But it wasn’t.

I re-checked my email the next morning to make sure this was really happening. I told my husband and made sure the dates would work for us before confirming I could make it. Then I did what any reasonable person would do and dug through my bookshelves to find my copy of The BFG and set it aside to start reading to my daughter that night.

***

“One more chapter!” My daughter pleaded after I’d just finished the first six chapters.

“No baby,” I told her. “It’s summer time but we start homeschool tomorrow.”

The next morning her first assignment was to write and illustrate a scene from the book, which she was more than happy to do.

We’ve continued to read a chapter or two a night but I’ve started to pick up the pace adding some reading in the middle of the day so I can be sure we finish before my trip.

I haven’t told her that Disney is making a movie about her current book obsession and I haven’t told her I’m going to meet the people who helped make it. I imagine she’ll flip once I show her the trailer and I think she’ll be happy for me (and a bit jealous).

Though I can’t bring my mini movie critic with me on this trip I know she’ll be excited and send along some questions for me to ask the cast and crew.

As we finish reading this classic tale of an adventure of a little girl who meets a friendly giant, I’ll be sharing my own story: A mom and long-time Disney movie fan on an adventure to see how this book was brought to life. Chapter by chapter here on the blog, and play by play on Twitter under the hashtag #TheBFGEvent. I hope you’ll keep turning the pages on this journey.

To be continued…

In theaters July 1st