1999. Museum Of Natural History, NYC.
erica, isabelle and i were in new york for the opening of erica’s new store. there was
lots to do to get ready; my job was keeping isabelle entertained.
“what would be a really fun thing for a three-year-old to do in new york?” i wondered.
dinosaurs! the museum of natural history.
the first thing we saw were the dioramas on the first floor. she didn’t seem interested.
i was surprised. so we went up to the fourth floor to see the dinosaurs; i headed
straight for the t-rex – couldn’t wait to see her reaction. i knew she’d seen lots of
dinosaur books, but to see a life-size t-rex was sure to be a thrill.
she wasn’t thrilled.
in fact she looked kind of sad.
what was going on? i asked her what was wrong. she replied; “everything here is dead”.
it never occurred to me that she might expect otherwise. of course dinosaurs are going to
be dead – why would i have to tell her that? – but little kids think like little kids.
she’d imagined we’d see living dinosaurs.
i’d imagined that she’d have an amazing experience and talk about it for days.
we were both sorely disappointed.
we left and walked into central park. got a pretzel and sat on a bench. she was quiet.
some dogs started playing together. that made her smile.