thursday love

day trips, outings, miniature adventures, field trips. there are so many things to see, everywhere you look, all the time. I don't know why I don't get out and go more often. and when I am with the kidlets, everything looks so new to me. through their eyes, possibility is in every little thing. growing up, do you remember what that felt like? when your parents planned an outing in another city or neighboring town or your class was boarding the bus to go on a field trip? oh, it was too much for me, too much. I was so thirsty to see the world.





except for maybe the time my fifth grade teacher took us to a funeral home for our yearly field trip. her family owned the town's main funeral business and so while other classes were going to the state park, we were off to learn about the wonders of embalming fluid. dear readers, my fifth grade mind was unprepared for that sort of reality. honestly, I think I was more deflated over the fact that it was such a short bus ride across our small town. and there were no refreshments served. yes, I distinctly remember feeling cheated out of the standard kool-aid and cookies. I vividly recall the oppressive scent of formaldehyde and remember thinking that if I was going to have to endure the smell of death, then someone better cough up some refreshments. and of course, my entire class had been buzzing for weeks over The Question. would we be seeing any dead bodies? no one dared ask the teacher. because we all knew the answer would be a most emphatic NO and why kill a good buzz? it was all we had, that possibility. especially since we were the laughing stock of all the fifth grade classes (sample exchange: what's that you say? you're going to see all the pretty leaves and the big lake? well, we're going to see DEAD BODIES. yeah, that's right-- nature is for BABIES). I also remember lightly touching the satin lining of the display caskets and feeling like ms. rankin was the meanest teacher ever.

still, it was an adventure. better than sitting around in class, mean old ms. rankin pointing a finger so craggly and crooked that we never knew exactly who she was addressing.



ah, but I digress. to be out with my kids, exploring the city (or country)-- that's the thing. it's what I live for, what I absolutely love to do. (fifth grade funeral home field trips included).

recently, I took the kids to see the niki de saint phalle exhibit at the atlanta botanical gardens. more of her fantastic work (and us playing in and around it) can be seen here.

(and more thursday love here plus the lovely TILT originator and all my other thursday loves here)