the zoo

There's nothing like a trip to the zoo to bring out one's inner misanthrope.

On our way to check out the pandas, we made our way through the world of birds as the zoo rightly assumed that the only way most people would brake for birds would be to sandwich it between the cats and the bears. I'm no birder, but all of a sudden, there it was. Just the most beautiful bird I'd ever seen. Colors like a psychedelic light show but real. On a bird! I said to Caleb that this looked like the kind of bird that one would have to trek to the top of a mountain in Tibet to hopefully just catch a glimpse of.

A cute, skinny mom with her two kids and pregnant friend in tow blew past us when she realized her daughter was no longer beside her. The little girl stood on front of the golden pheasant, transfixed.

Her mom stared at her, impatient.

"Baby, those are just birds. Don't you want to see the bears?"

The girl didn't move.

"Honey, c'mon. Wouldn't you rather see the bears?"

The girl slowly moved away and hurried to catch her mom who was, indeed, booking it toward the bears.

Right then and there I decided my child and I would brake for birds, even the ugly brown ones you don't have to climb a mountain to see. Just on principal.