Vacation

Last night I went on vacation, for two hours! All day yesterday I pondered what I would do with my evening. Mark had spent five days in Denver while Divina and I had each other for the weekend. It was strictly kid stuff for five days. That's a lot. So Mark gave me the evening off. What to do? I settled on the Wild Animal Park. Ha! It's one of my favorite places and I always go there with the kid, so I wanted to see it just for me.

On the way there, a half hour drive, the radio was LOUD and I sang the whole way. I arrived at 7pm with the sun about to set. I made a bee line for the tram which takes you on a tour of the park. There are acres upon acres of habit for endangered animals of Africa and Asia. As I boarded the tram, a satisfying feeling of grateful excitement came over me. Free of child, I could sit in the front row, a place normally forbidden to toddlers and loud talkers as the tour guide sits up there and the jabbering can be heard on the intercom. It was soooo nice to be pampered in this way. This tram tour seemed to be intended just for me and how nice it was that these people are giving me this gift. All I had to do was sit there and be quiet. Awesome!

This is the time to go on the tram, at dusk. The animals really come alive. I'd been on the tour before during the day, with the child, but this was on a whole new plane. We got to hear the lion roar. Did you know that lions do not roar in one or two long words like the MGM lion does? No, sir. They give a series of short and long phrases, liking grunting, but it's really, really loud. It sounds a lot like something rolling around in a barrel. When a lion talks, everyone listens. He not only roared for us, he played with his giant ball that the park gave him. They call toys "enrichment." The white tiger also showed for us. She splayed herself in the grass and then scampered about. Rare. The many other animals were equally active and amorous. There were mating calls heard from all over. I'm a little flushed recalling it.

Something our tour guide talked about resonated with me. She told us about how several of the animals came to live at the park. The ass, for instance, is now extinct in it's natural habitat because of the human civil problems in the area. The park is breading them so that when peace returns to the area, the asses can be returned. She then talked about how human problems effect so much more than just humans. Where ever there are humans suffering, the animals will be, too. When we came to the gorilla area, she told us that one way to protect the gorillas is to recycle our cell phones. The materials that are used for cell phone batteries come from the gorilla's natural habitat, thus they are here and not there. She had such an eloquent way of explaining how interdependent we are with the animals and our environment. I'm inspired to find out if the WAP can come to our fellowship for a service. Peace is a prayer for all life.

Something kind of funny, gorilla's like it warm all the time, so at night, when it's cold, they go to their heated bedrooms. Ha!

After the tram tour, I ran (really, I ran) through the park, in the dark, to make it to the African acrobat show. As always it was impressive and fun. Then I ate charred corn on the cob (it was the last one and a little burnt.) I strolled through the park, nawing on my corn, just enjoying the christmas lights, animals sounds, and cool air. It's gets very cold at night in the dessert. The last thing I did was treat myself to something I'd never do with the kid around, cotton candy.

This was a real vacation for me. A vacation is NOT what I will be doing in two weeks when we travel to Minneapolis to visit family. Mark made the mistake of calling it that yesterday. Vacation? In what way will this be a vacation? In fact, it will be much, much, much more work than staying home. As mommy, I will be on constant, 24 hour vigil over the child. Imagine a plane placed at four feet which dissects your house. Anything below that plane is in the child's territory. It is this area that I patrol. Unless she's sitting at the table, climbing the furniture, being thrown in the air...then the plane is raised, and so are my senses. Let's also consider sleeping in a strange place, with no crib. We'll bring our own toys and will probably need to buy some food stuffs for her, as well. No, not a vacation. Not relaxing. I'm really looking forward to visiting our family, but please don't call it a vacation.