The 32-Year DC Zoo Review
11/06/08 04:35
I can remember 1976 vividly. I was eight, it was the country’s bicentennial, and my family took a big driving trip from Texas to Washington, DC, that summer in our new Toyota wagon.
Part of the trip was to visit an old family friend who lived near DC, but we also hit the museum circuit pretty hard. And for my birthday that July, we went to the National Zoo, which had recently obtained a panda or two.
I had a meeting yesterday with a colleague who had been enlisted with home day-care duties. We had to work intensively on several issues, and he and I had to get together. I’m not coming into the office, he said. Where are you staying? I told him the little guest house. Oh -- that’s really close to the zoo. Let’s meet there. I’ll pick you up, and then we’ll go to our place to work.
So after breakfast I turned right instead of left out of my door and began walking in a new direction. The zoo is only a few blocks away, as it turns out, and almost to the day, I reappeared at the zoo after 32 years.
It seems much smaller and a bit aged and worn, but then they also let me in for free, and the zoo was crowded with families and children. The employees seemed happy and engaged, really enjoying their work, somehow. And I saw two pandas. Look, Jon, my friend told his son. That’s who we work for! All three of us looked into the large pen with the high walls, a massive panda lying on his back with his hand over his head to shut out the light and the sweltering, humid heat. Yes, I work for the panda.
I had a meeting yesterday with a colleague who had been enlisted with home day-care duties. We had to work intensively on several issues, and he and I had to get together. I’m not coming into the office, he said. Where are you staying? I told him the little guest house. Oh -- that’s really close to the zoo. Let’s meet there. I’ll pick you up, and then we’ll go to our place to work.
So after breakfast I turned right instead of left out of my door and began walking in a new direction. The zoo is only a few blocks away, as it turns out, and almost to the day, I reappeared at the zoo after 32 years.
It seems much smaller and a bit aged and worn, but then they also let me in for free, and the zoo was crowded with families and children. The employees seemed happy and engaged, really enjoying their work, somehow. And I saw two pandas. Look, Jon, my friend told his son. That’s who we work for! All three of us looked into the large pen with the high walls, a massive panda lying on his back with his hand over his head to shut out the light and the sweltering, humid heat. Yes, I work for the panda.
blog comments powered by Disqus
