An Afternoon Two Years In The Making

At our zoo they have a nice thirty minute bird show.  They bring out some beautiful birds that are trained to go from point to point in the little theater, swooping over all of the visitors' heads.  They also ask, at one point in the show, for a child to volunteer to train a bird.  A snow dove, in particular.  They get to hold out their hand and have a snow dove land in their hand and eat some seeds out of their hands.

Every since our first time at the bird show, Emma has been dying to be that kid.  We've tried everything.  Going when it is not crowded.  Sitting on the front row.  Sitting on the second row.  Waving our arms enthusiastically.  Emma has never been selected.

We went to the zoo on Friday and naturally stopped at the bird show.  I have to admit, after going several times a year over the last two years, I now have the entire show memorized.  I even know when they skip parts in order to move the show along.  I know all of the presenters, and I have my favorites.  In other words, the bird show and I are very close.

We took our seats on the second row (I like the second row because that is where the owl swoops across) and, like usual, I prayed and prayed that Emma would be selected.

She wasn't.

Macey got selected, and while I was excited for little Macey (and she did such a great job!) I was bummed for Emma.  But she took it really well.  Maybe next time!

From Macey: I liked feeding the bird.  It felt good because when it chewed the food it tickled.  I was not scared because it was a nice bird.