I still get chills when I hear the theme from Finding Nemo (2003). Thomas Newman always does that to me with his scores but this one touches me deeply as a dad. I think it’s because it reminds me of the opening scene when the father discovers his Nemo as the lone surviving fish egg after the loss of the mom and all the other eggs. I know it was just an animated movie and not real and all that stuff, but because of my strong willing suspension of disbelief, movies tend to get to me more than the average Joe. As a father, that whole sequence was so emotional.

The other thing that I loved about Nemo was the way it captured the father’s fears for the safety of his children, whether fish or fowl or human. It’s all the same. We have this instinct to protect our family members and provide for them.

I also identified with the dad’s anguish of letting go when the time comes for your child to go off to school. I remember the bittersweet pain mixed with immense pride when each of my three children started going to school. Their first day of school is burned into my brain and heart. I swear I could hear this beautiful theme when I took my youngest two children to school for the first time. Sometimes, I still hear it when I see them driving away on their school bus.

Doriano “Paisano” Carta is the proud papa of three children, Nicholas (10), Matthew (6) and Rachel (4). Besides being a contributing Executive Editor for Dad-o-matic, he also writes for other blogs such as Mashable, Pistachio Consulting as well as his own blog, www.DorianoCarta.com. He has also contributed to other blogs such as SarahLacy and SocialMediaMom. Pai can be found on twitter as Paisano.