Ah- The sights, the sounds, the smells... and I'm not just talking about the animals!
Nothing brings a mom more joy than to see her children in complete states of joy.. especially when it's on purpose and not some internal need to destroy my house to feel that joy. No- the joy felt today came from the wild animals mingling with their kind.
As natural, we draw just as many looks as the animals on exhibit; occasionally I have to remind people that the exhibit is the other way- we're just the side show but we somehow manage to blend in a little more in places such as these and if we got captured on video as we stampeded the grounds I didn't notice too much as I was lost in the excitement of my childrens' faces... I don't know who was more excited out of the four but everyone found something to make the trip memorable.
For Monkey it was seeing all of these animals up close. The look on her face when she saw the size of that elephant definitely won a shot from the camera but was nothing compared to the excitement that came over her when she saw the giraffes! Jumping, yelling "hello!" and smiling from ear to ear. Puppy liked seeing the tigers, and the monkeys, and the elephants, and the alligator, and the birds, and the llamas, and the giraffes, and the rhinos, and the... (she sort of just went down the map and every animal just got better and better). Tiger- well, he soaked it all up and didn't run away- so that was very memorable for me and Rhino, while maintaining his distance actually looked at the snakes this time (with a little help from dad) but my favorite part was after we ate a nice home-packed lunch with all of the fixings a child could ask for he relentlessly argued,, "but mom- Zoo food is so good.." I love watching Mr. Zookeeper with his kids- he's the best!
While I would love to report on all of the cooky and silly things my wild bunch did; something else stood out more in my mind. While waiting for our turn on the carousel, I watched a proud daddy ride with his two young boys. One kept calling to his mom for her to make sure she was watching so naturally I had to look for her as well. Expecting to see a mom with a high speed camera catching every turn, I found a tired mother barely able to stand as she held the rod in front of her with one hand and her oxygen tank with the other. She never stopped smiling as she watched her young family circling in front of her. As we boarded I watched her hug each boy and share their excitement with them. My heart went out for her and what she must be feeling.
Luckily we were first in line so we didn't have to fight off or bribe off any nice children to get the animals each child wanted to ride (it's so much more pleasant when everyone just gets their way). We circled round and round and I glanced down to notice the contribution plaques under my feet. Several read as most do, a name or company, and then I froze as I read the name of a boy and the year 1997-2004 ending with "because he loved the zoo". A seven year old boy, just like the one I was holding onto. My heart ached again for a another mother.
Sometimes life catches us by surprise- what I really wanted out of this trip was to see my children happy, practice their out-in public skills and spend some time as a family but what I got was so much more. I was reminded how fortunate I am to have this wild pack of mine. Just like the carousel, we get so busy going in circles that it's easy to get caught up in what the perfect animal would be that we forget to just enjoy the ride. It's so easy to miss the simple things. I don't know the circumstances surrounding the young mother or seven year old boy- but I do know how happiness can make a heavy heart light. How peaceful no regrets really feels and how time is precious and it's up to us to make every second count!
Yes, we had a fun day followed by sleepy kids on a drive home (which always seems to make it just a little bit better)and long after the astonishment of the size of the elephant, smell of the monkey and grace of the tiger wears off- we'll still have each other and the eternal bond we're making as a family! It's not always the easiest thing sometimes- but it is SO WORTH IT!
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