Once again another week and weekend has come and gone and
once again I find a motherhood lesson staring me right in the face. Maybe not
so much a lesson as a rediscovery of a truth I already knew. You see, it all
started with a dinosaur, or rather the PROMISE of going to see a dinosaur and
his friends at the museum. Yes, I hyped up a bunch of bones. Bones and dust
actually seeing as how the exhibit is due for a cleaning, but let me back up
just a bit.
It all started several months ago when it was brought to my
attention by my father that the museum would be closing down the dinosaur
exhibit for 5 years! 5 years takes you dangerously close to the end of the magical
wonder of childhood. Emma is 2 and add another 5 years to that and it takes us
to 7 and I feel like that is just a few years away from 10, which is when I
hear everything goes downhill. I could not wait until she was 7 to show her the
magnificent dinosaur exhibit (even though I am very aware she will probably not
remember the outing.) The other reason for my despair was that I used to beg my
dad and grandfather every Easter (around this time every year) to go see the
dinosaur bones. Yes, I wanted to be a paleontologist as a child (I even had a
rock collection). So the long standing, and recently often skipped over
tradition was something I wanted to reestablish. I wanted to relive the magic
from my childhood with my dad and let Emma enjoy the experience with her
granddaddy.
All intentions were good, and after having to reschedule
several times due to sickness or other priorities, I knew this weekend had to
be it. It was our time to go and I wanted nothing more than to have an amazing
magical time. Knowing our plans were solid, I started talking up the trip to
Emma a few days before. I try to explain to her what we are going to do and why
we are going to do it ahead of time so she can be prepared and have something
to look forward to. Enter Friday night, after once again talking up “going to
see the dinosaurs,” I get a phone call from my mom (who knows I am not one for
watching the local evening news.) Apparently tomorrow, the day of our meticulously
planned trip downtown, was also the day of a big festival where massive amounts
of people would be. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it on here before but crowds
of people ARE NOT my thing. Hearing this from my mom my heart sank, it looked
like we were going to have to cancel our trip again and possibly wait 5 years
to see the exhibit. I looked over at my husband and shook my head and then
something amazing happened. From her tiny bedroom down the hall, through the
closed door, as Emma was talking herself to sleep, we heard it loud and clear
“dinosaur” (pronounced in Emma speak as “dine-ee-sour”). I could feel my mushy,
melted heart pooling on the floor next to my husband’s. We looked at each other
and in that moment we knew. We were going to see the dinosaurs, crowds and all.
That’s when it hit me, my mom lesson, all of those years my mom would never actually promise
me anything, she never set any plans in stone…she knew then what I know now, if
you promise to do something you have to follow through with it, no matter what
the circumstances. I want to be someone Emma trusts and that starts with
keeping promises I’ve made. I know now not to promise something or talk it up
unless I am very sure it is extremely likely to happen (even then who knows.)
Saturday morning rolled around and being old pros at the
museum visiting game with a toddler, we were out the door by 9am. We decided to
take the subway into downtown (Emma’s first time) and at first it was great.
There were no crowds, we got a window seat and all was well, until we had to
transfer trains. We had the stroller with us and had to fold it up to fit onto
the train. Once we were on, my husband and I had to hold Emma above the crowd
to avoid its suffocating squeeze. Needless to say I freaked out and almost
called the whole thing off then and there but we were determined. We carried the stroller with Emma in it up
every escalator from there on out. We made it downtown in good time and to the
exhibit with few problems. The only thing was, my father was running late. We
ended up going to see the dinosaurs (Emma was in heaven) and went through two
other exhibits and then granddaddy appeared! Of course by the time we looped
back around to see the dinosaurs the crowds had doubled and Emma was beginning
a hunger strike (as in I’m hungry so I am not going to be happy or care about
anything other than food from here on out.) This was unfortunate but granddaddy
did not seem to mind even if half of the pictures he got were of Emma’s mouth
crammed full of crackers (see photo evidence below).
<----- Mouth full of crackers
Finally the crowds swelled past the point I was comfortable
with so we sought out food. Of course the eateries were packed so we ended up shoveling
our food down while standing up in an awkward corner. At this point, Emma was
done (aka screaming) so we headed for the exit. We spent a few glorious moments
outside running in the grass. After getting all of her energy out, we knew it
was time to head home or as I like to call it, the day my husband and I become
Parental Ninja Warriors. We literally battled the crowds to get to the top of
the mountain in the third challenge (you know the one no one ever gets to.)
Seriously, after carrying the stroller down the escalator for the millionth
time, we were met with the sight of hundreds of people trying to fit through
the tiniest of spaces. There were only two lanes open to exit and the stroller
could not fit through either so we dug deep and lifted the stroller up about 4
feet in the air over the gate with Emma in it. I couldn’t believe it. I now
feel like I know I could survive a mass exodus from a nuclear apocalypse.
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