My Day at the Zoo

If you've ever held still long enough, I've probably told you the story of how my parents flew to San Diego when my nephew was born and left me behind. I was six. And yes I did get to spend the week with my grandmother which, as everyone knows, was delightful. Grandmothers do all sorts of things with kids that mothers don't allow or don't have the energy to do (like playing "hairdresser" for hours on end).

But that didn't stop me from being bitter. I wanted to go to sunny San Diego and go to the zoo. but my parents, in their infinite wisdom decided to make the trip sans child. And although they brought me back lots of presents, including a San Diego Zoo clipboard, lots of stickers, and a pair of Joe Cool scissors, I still would have rather gone on the trip.

Now my time has come.

My friend Charlie has been considerate enough to choose San Diego as the venue for his wedding (no doubt having my lifelong desire to see the zoo in mind when he made that decision). So this November Minh, Tai and I will be taking a family vacation to Southern California. We're stretching it into a pretty long vacation that will include visiting Minh's sister and grandmother. And we'll do some general sight seeing and I will finally get my day at the zoo. Oh, and I guess we'll go to the wedding while we're there.

Actually, we're in the wedding. Well, Minh and I are. Tai will still be a tad young for the role of ring bearer. But Minh and I are honored to have been asked to do a reading during the wedding ceremony. The title of the poem we've been asked to read is Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog. Presumably, Minh and I know a little something about love and a tad bit about owning a dog as well. Hopefully I won't mess up and swear on the altar like last time we were in a wedding....