The heart of a giant
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Several weeks ago, Chase came home to tell me about a field trip his grade at school was taking. He explained that there were three possible field trips and each hall was assigned a different one. He was pretty excited at the chance to escape classwork and tests for a day of play.
Field trip option number one was the City Museum. For those of you not fortunate enough to live in St. Louis, the City Museum is a paradise for kids (and adults if you're anyone other than me). It's a 600,000 square-foot building that is essentially an urban recycled playground. There are old airplanes and buses strapped to the roof that kids can climb in and play with. There is a three-story indoor slide. There are tunnels to explore and large structures to scale. Everything is made from salvaged urban materials. It's visually incredible, and physically exhausting. There is not a child alive who would be sad to visit this place.
Field trip option number two was an indoor recreation facility. The kids would spend the day swimming, playing basketball, racquetball, and tennis. The full facility would be at the students' disposal, including the indoor skating rink. It would have been a blast for sure.
The last, and final, field trip option was a trip to the local nuclear waste dump.
Yes. AND HOLY JUDAS, YES.
I have no idea how they pulled that one out of the hat, when the other two options are so clearly fun and, you know, not a day spent looking at garbage.
Well. As Murphy's Law would have it, Chase's hall drew the short end of the toxic nuclear stick. They were assigned the field trip NO ONE would ever want to go on. Ever.
I offered to let him stay home and, better yet, go visit the City Museum on our own. But my sweet, lanky, broad-shouldered boy just shrugged and smiled. He laughed and said that he didn't mind going on it, and that he might learn something new.
And as he cheerfully walked out the door to study trash instead of to play, I marveled at the heart inside my boy. He has a better attitude than most adults I know (definitely this one). He truly sees the glass as half-full, and doesn't feel a sense of entitlement for anything in his life. He is grateful for what he has, and makes the most of every day he is given.
Even if that day includes a field trip to look at garbage.
I love him something fierce.
