The day started overcast, the forecast for the day predicted it to be a cloudy day that would reach the low eighties. All in all, a perfect day to hit the zoo. Off we went for Brookfield Zoo here in Chicago to meet friends from a local China adoption group we belong to.
We get together fairly often, it helps ease the crushing frustration from this long and drawn out wait for our daughter’s referral. Seeing the kids and talking with others does have a calming effect — that from someone who never really bought into that sort of thing.
It helps too that they are all really cool and fun to be around. So off we went merrily on our way, a pack of couples and children, strollers and cameras to see the animals on display.
The attraction of the day was a baby polar bear, but he was inside both times we wandered past his area. By late in the day I was wishing that I was inside, the sun had burned away the cloud and it felt more like ninety.
The cicadas were fun breaks from the heat, every now and than a woman or child would scream as one felt onto them or into their hair. I offered money to a few people to eat one, but nobody took me up on the offer.
Luckily nobody counter bet me to eat one. I would have done it if push came to shove (at least that’s what I am saying right now in the comfort of my home… ), but it never came to that thankfully.
I don’t know what it is about the zoo but every time I visit it I leave feeling beat to hell, my legs hurt my joints ache and I really don’t know why. Sure we walked around, but nothing intense or even hilly for that matter. It has to be just the result of walking + sun + energy sapping nature of keeping an eye on your kid. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll get to experience the zoo on a Segway or even a Rascal (I’ll never forget that Seinfeld episode!).
The other thing that I seem to feel more as I get older is a sadness from looking at the animals. I am sure that the staff/management takes care of them like they were their own children, and the facilities are pretty impressive to see — but I just can’t shake the feeling that they would be better off in the wild.
I think by putting them in zoo’s we forget about their wild nature, we start to relate to them almost on a pet level and we not only lose an appreciation for their wild nature, but they loose their surface level natural instincts.
Its still there, but it takes more to bring it out than it would in the wild. Why can’t we take a page from some of the rain forest tours I have seen and suspend sully enclosed walkways thirty feet off the ground that extend across large unfettered and unrestricted tracts of land that have been transformed to be say a savanna in Africa?
It just seems like it might be a more natural way to see nature like it is in the wild. I think that might be why I enjoy our local arboretum the Morton Arboretum. Its over 1200 acres of forests, plains, wetlands, etc.
When I go there and walk around its almost like the weight of the world comes off my shoulders, the burdens of life melt away and I can enjoy just being out in nature. Its a pretty amazing place that I am so glad to have finally visited after so many years.
Tags: Ache, Adoption Group, Baby Polar Bear, brookfield, Brookfield Zoo, china, China Adoption, Cicadas, Cloudy Day, Eighties, Khaa, Late In The Day, Overcast, Perfect Day, Polar Bear, Sadness, Segway, Staff Management, Strollers, summer, Sun Energy, Walking Sun, zoo, Zoo ZooYou must be logged in to post a comment.
