Been there

Last week*, I went to the zoo with my brother and his family. It was a great time and I had a blast. I know I probably shouldn't, but I love zoos. I really love seeing how animals behave and putting the human spin on it.

Like the orangutans. First, can we talk about how adorable baby orangutans** are? SOOOO adorable! And then there was the mama orang. Baby is having a blast, playing and being adorable, but her? Not so much. She grabbed a sheet and threw it over herself, ghost-costume-esque, then grabbed an armful of straw and dumped it on her head. (Baby was a little sad about this, because some of it was his*** straw. But then he had fun dumping straw on his head, so he made the best of it). Everything about Mama was saying, "I just can't take today." And every adult watching was saying, "Yep. I've been there."****

It was the same with the bears, the peacock, the zebras, the otters. (Not the straw dumping. The "I can relate" and the "Let's make up what the animals are saying.") It's one of the best parts of the zoo. And I get that we are putting animals in an artificial habitat so that people can gawk at them, but I really love zoos.

Also, I remembered the hat lesson. There was this adorable***** stuffed sloth that was on sale. I was talking myself into being a responsible adult****** but then something kicked in and said, "Buy it!" Everyone else was getting a souvenir. So I bought it. And I haven't regretted it one bit.

*was it only last week? And has it really been an entire week? Time is weird.
**Does anyone know how this is pronounced for real? I'm so glad this is all written because I never know how to say orangutan.
***I have no idea if it was a he or she, but my impression based on nothing sound is he.
****The kids just thought it was hilarious.
*****Yes, I know. Everything was adorable.
******Always a mistake. Well, sometimes a mistake.

Small talk

I don't consider myself the best at small talk. Or the best conversationalist. I either can't think of anything to say or I just can't stop talking and I interrupt and just go into verbal dump mode. I just can't seem to find the happy medium. 

I feel like last week was a massive swing to the verbal dump end of the spectrum and by the end of the week there was this inner me (I swear there is a sane person inside who isn't an obnoxious conversation hog or silent Sally) that wanted to grab me by the ear and take me out in the hallway for a little timeout until outer me could get a grip on myself. Sadly, inner me didn't have the steering wheel.

Anyway, people are really nice and patient, but if anyone wants to volunteer to be my on the spot mother and keep me from going crazy you might be doing the world a favor.