Got A Happy Story? Fill-in Edition (again)

Intro

It's Friday night again, which means it is time to share our happy stories, our little way of focusing on the positives in these difficult times. Once again, our regular host Carnacki asked me to step in for him tonight, which I am always happy to do.

My happy story is about my oldest daughter Maggie and her development into a bright little girl, which begins below the fold.

Please share your happy story tonight, for that is what this series is all about, sharing in our joys where we can find them.

Part 1: The Meeting

My story tonight begins on the evening of Wednesday the 25th of January. I had an appointment to visit with Maggie's kindergarten teacher to go over her progress in the first half of the school year. Prior to starting kindergarten, Maggie was enrolled in a preschool designed to teach the basics of reading and writing to give the kids a head start of elementary school. Unfortunately, it became clear that they spent more time playing and very little time actually learning.

The first few months of school were tough for Maggie. She had difficulty getting out the door each day, because she had no desire to go to school. She would fight through her writing homework each night, wanting to play more than learn - a habit she had been taught.

When I went into the meeting, I was expecting a list of areas that Maggie needed to improve upon - although she had shown marked improvement over the past weeks. I sat down with her teacher and was surprised by the immediate direction the conversation took.

Her teacher had indicated to me that Maggie had made amazing progress in the first half of the year. Not only had she gotten accustomed to life in kindergarten, but she was excelling. She was essentially ready to move to first grade, with the remaining half of the year to hone her reading and writing skills.

I was, and am, so incredibly proud of my little girl. She has grown up in so many ways over the past months, especially adjusting to life with a younger sibling. In an effort to reward her for doing so well, we decided to take a trip to the aquarium over the river in Camden, NJ, which brings me to part two of tonight's happy story.

Part 2: The Trip

We had asked Maggie where she wanted to go as a special gift for her successes. I fully expected to spend the day at Chuck E Cheeses or some other noise riddled money pit. Instead, she choose the aquarium, which I was very relieved to hear.

We made our way there hoping to get in around 12:30. Thank god we bought our tickets in advance on-line - there were about three hundred people in line for the ticket booths when we arrived. We by-passed the long line and made our way inside.

We spent the next two plus hours witnessing all manner of magical undersea life. We marveled at the giant Asia spider crabs, we watched tiny sea horses of all shape and color swim among the sea plants, we watched the bizarre reed eels, hiding among the pale green reeds, waiting for a meal of shrimp to unwittingly land on their "reed". We wandered past the penguins, the seals and the otters. We stopped and had a little lunch before continuing our journey, for the best was yet to come - the hippos and the sharks.

After eating, we headed straight for the African river safari. There were a number of displays, containing all manner of exotic river life. Then we found the hippos. Unlike the Philadelphia zoo, where the hippo area is a big yard with a pond where the hippos spend most of their time underwater, where you can't see them, this hippo area was a yard with a pond with the far wall made f plexiglass. This allowed us to watch these magnificent beasts as they lumbered with a surprising grace through the deep waters.

Maggie was thrilled by the shark area, which is a huge tank with a tunnel - about twenty five feet long - running through the middle. She stared in amazement as the sharks swam over and around us. That is, until an eleven-footer swam by, prompting a hasty retreat from the tunnel.

Throughout our trip, I got the chance to explain the different creatures we saw, to explain how some animals - like the reed eels - adapted over millions of years to get to what we saw that day. We spent an amazing time together, culminated by a walk in the sun along the river front.

And that is my happy story for tonight, what is yours?

peace,
Darrell