Spring Break Road Trip ’09: Day 5
Today we had something very special planned for our daughter, the Albuquerque Zoo. Our daughter absolutely loves animals, can’t get enough. And, I can’t deny, we were pretty excited too. Unfortunately, we got off to a rough start. The accumulation of days on the road with poor sleep and a low fever from teething, had put her in a terrible mood and she ended up crying all the way there. Even when she drifted into a nap, she would awaken crying and calling, “MaaaMaaa,” every fifteen minutes or so making her very grumpy.
Elephants at the Zoo
The good news is that even though she hadn’t gotten a proper nap, the excitement of flamingos, lions, tigers, polar bears, rhinos, elephants and giraffes kept her happily distracted. It was most fun when she recognized an animal from one of her books. She roared at the lion, scratched her head for the monkeys and raised her arm while trumpeting at the elephants. My husband and I agreed that our indisputable favorite was watching the polar bears eat fish and dive into the aquamarine waters. I couldn’t help thinking about how polar bears are endangered now due to the melting glaciers. Would they be extinct by the time by daughter was old enough to bring her own daughter to the zoo? We go about our days, busy, looking ahead, keeping our children happy, doing the best we can to recycle and live sustainably, but how often do we stop to think about how all our actions, good and bad, eventually affect the animals we share the planet with?
Giraffe!
After stocking up on a month’s worth of groceries (we don’t get to town much), our daughter cried hysterically the entire ride home, two hours. I did everything to distract her, but eventually, blasting the radio and ignoring her was the thing to help her drift into brief spurts of sleep. In those quiet moments, I was racked with guilt. Am I a terrible mom? Sometimes, I just have to let her cry. It is beyond my control. Yet, I always feel like there must be something more that I should be doing, that I could be doing. Am I too lazy? Too selfish? Too preoccupied to be a good mom? I know there is no such thing as a perfect mom, but am I a bad mom? My husband assures me I’m a good mom, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop wondering if there was something more I could have done.
In the end, the best thing about a vacation is appreciating being home. It will take a couple of days for my daughter to get back into her healthy sleep pattern and stop being crabby, but at least I can control the environment a little. I don’t know how much she’ll remember of the white sands or broken trestles, lions or polar bears, but at least I know I’ve opened her door to the world just a little bit wider. As parents, this is the most important accomplishment.
P.S. After some research, we’ve discovered that we may not be able to fit a camper into our truck afterall. Anyone out there have a small trailer they want to sell us for cheap?
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