Travel Envy

My passport expired long ago and I haven’t applied for a new one. I want to have a passport. I intend to apply but I have no sense of urgency. I don’t expect to be travelling out of the United States any time soon. My circumstances now don’t allow for long or expensive trips.

I wish, often, that it were otherwise. I rarely read travel books but I find myself gazing at the pictures of exotic places that grace their covers and saying to myself, “Why am I here?” I’m not questioning my purpose in life. My life has plenty of meaning. I find it in my relationships with God and with my family. I’m just wondering why I am in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and not in Africa, or New Zealand, or Brazil, or England, or New Mexico, or anywhere else. The world is full of places that I’ve never been and want to see, and equally full of places I’ve been before and want to see again.

Many of my happiest memories are of trips I’ve taken in the past with family and friends. It is a joy to go new places, do new things, eat new foods. I miss the days when I traveled more widely, when I accumulated stamps in my passport and highway miles on my car. I do remember, though, that there were times when I longed for the comforts of home. Now that I spend most of my time in my home I need to remember to savor those comforts. And when home is too small and boring, I have to remind myself that there are adventures waiting for me in my own back yard.

Even here in Weymouth there are places I have never been, activities that I have never tried, and foods I have never tasted. Boston is close enough that I can go for a day, do plenty, and be back for dinner without ever getting behind the wheel of my car. If I feel like driving, most of New England can be visited in a day. There are probably more things to see and do within one hundred miles of where I live than I could manage in a lifetime. So until the roads and skies of the world open up for me again and I start accumulating miles on my car and stamps in a new passport I’ll go out and find my adventures close to home. I won’t lack for travelling companions and I’ll make plenty of new memories to take with me when I’m again travelling the country and the world.

We Went to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Last Thursday was Maura’s class field trip to the Franklin Park Zoo. At her school they get one big field trip each year so their trip to the zoo was one of the highlights of their school year. I went along as a volunteer chaperon. It was a long day but I’m glad I could help.

I arrived at school in the morning with Maura. We walked from home despite the promise of rain because I didn’t want to worry about parking at school. As a special treat we stopped for breakfast at the donut shop about halfway between home and school. One I had signed in at the office and the kids had settled into their classroom I went down to meet them. I was one of two parent volunteers for the class. I was assigned four students to watch during the day, Maura and three boys from her class. Then we boarded the bus and headed to the zoo.

It was a long and trying day for me but it was fun too. Once at the zoo the class split up and I was alone for the day with my four charges. I had not expected the class to be split up that way. It was all up to me and the kids what we did with the day. We managed to see pretty much everything the Franklin Park Zoo has to offer, except the giraffes. They were in their house staying out of the cold. It was not a warm day and it threatened to rain all day though it never did. I’m certainly glad for that. Many of the best exhibits at Franklin Park are indoors but there were lots of kids at the zoo and they all would have been crowded inside if it had been raining.
My four kids were all very good and excited about their trip to the zoo. Everyone wanted to see everything and they were remarkably patient and didn’t give me a hard time. They biggest problem was keeping them together. Someone was always running ahead or trailing behind and I feel lucky that I did not lose any of them.

Everyone has their own favorite animals at the zoo. I’m fond of the mandrills and the tamarins in the rain forest exhibit. Maura likes the lemurs. All the kids like the emus because they heard a story about emus in class. One of the peacocks that wander free in the zoo gave us a nice suprise. It fanned out its tail and put on a display for us. It was very impressive.

I was completely exhausted by the time we got back on the bus. Maura put her head on my shoulder and took a nap. I wish I could have done the same but it was a noisy and bumpy ride back to the school.

Ready to Roll

Maura received a bicycle for her birthday last year but for various reasons it sat in our shed for most of a year unridden. Our street, though fairly quiet, is still too busy for bike riding lessons and last fall we had no way to transport the bicycle to a better location. New England winters are not good times to be out on a bicycle. Now that it’s nearly summer and fair weather is expected it is time Maura learned to ride her bike. Last weekend we took the time to give her some lessons.

Our first lesson was Saturday afternoon. Once I had figured out how to mount the bike rack to the trunk of the Toyota we strapped Maura’s Hannah Montana bicycle on to it and headed to Great Esker Park where I was sure we would find a good place for Maura to ride. While the park’s most notable feature is the esker of its name, a long, steep-sided hill, near the parking lot is one of flattest places in Weymouth. A smoothly paved path that circles the ball field there is an ideal place for a bike lesson.

On Saturday I started out holding the handlebars and seat of the bike while I walked alongside reminding Maura to pedal. Soon I was letting go to jog behind her for a little while before she fell over or ran off the path out of control. Every time she fell over Maura got back on the bike with a smile on her face ready to try again. She hadn’t yet mastered bike riding by the time we had to go home for supper but she made a lot of progress.

We were back on Sunday afternoon for another lesson. While she still lost control of the bike often she was clearly getting her balance. Now instead of jogging right behind her while she pedaled slowly and unsteadily for a few yards I was running to catch up while she rode halfway around the circuit before losing control. She had a great time despite a skinned knees and I’m confident that she’ll be riding like a pro before school’s out for the summer.

Maura’s cheerful persistence in trying to ride her bike is heartening to me. She’s learned one of the lessons I’ve tried to teach her—that it is worth working at something until you get it right if it is something worth doing at all. I know that it is a lesson she will forget from time to time. I know I do. Still the better she learns it now the better she will be at dealing with failure and frustration when she needs to learn a difficult skill or one that gives her less pleasure.