It Felt Like Coming Home

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This husband and I…

Headed off early to the zoo…the first item to check off his old man bucket list…beautiful weather…early in the week…should have the place to ourselves…

But joke was on us…the parking lot was full…fuller than full…couldn’t find one space…was there a special event?…something we didn’t know?…did everyone else just decide to go to the zoo, zoo, zoo, too, too, too?…

And then we noticed a pattern…buses…parents…children with colored name tag stickers…apparently it was school field trip day and the heart of teacher me was thrilled…

How fun to walk the grounds, enjoy the exhibits, watch hundreds of excited little ones chat excitedly about the animals…

How fun for teacher me to watch how big city schools do field trips…class shirts, printed name tags, color coded everything, parent chaperones, grandparent chaperones, each student in a group of five…

It was an organized masterpiece…a delight to observe, as was the zoo…the flamingos, the rhinos, the new gorilla habitat…

And for one of us…36 years in the classroom…36 years of field trips and duties…36 years watching the joy on little faces as they learn something new…it felt…like coming home…
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And those daughters of mine…would agree…