This is the story of what happened when I let a six-year-old choose a vacation destination.
Walt Disney World or Universal Studios claim most adults. I can’t conjure a greater hell, especially since I spent my mistake-marriage honeymoon there. When we offered to take our guideson on an epic sixth birthday adventure, here’s what he picked:
Haven’t heard of Alberta’s Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, Canada’s premiere paleontology destination? You’re not alone. But when a kid loves dinosaurs and you love that kid, you make sacrifices, right? Including redeeming every award point you possess to make a trek to a godforsaken place you never wanted to see.
I gritted my teeth and prepared to endure hours of staring at long-dead, horrifying creatures in close quarters. My knowledge of dinosaurs comes from the 1970s Saturday morning show “Land of the Lost.” The utter awfulness of that program banished any curiosity I may’ve otherwise had. My upbringing snuffed out what remained. It’s hard to study dinosaurs in a school that teaches the Earth’s only been around for 10,000 years.
But the most complete armored fossil ever found? Call me transfixed. It represents a species formerly unknown to science. A paleontologist worked for five years to chip it from its prison of rock. I gazed into its eye socket and wondered about the world it saw.
Why did I expect to be bored? I hoped to plow through my to-read list while he saw the exhibits. The place came at me as broccoli I didn’t want to try. A dinosaur museum held nothing for someone like me.
What’s the greatest value to approaching life with an open mind?
In this case, I’m glad I tried the broccoli. I was gobsmacked by the Royal Tyrrell Museum. When Cooper was already in the gift shop picking out a stuffed toy, I was staring at the tusks of this woolly mammoth. I couldn’t get enough of the bones, the geology, or the stories of discovery. When I threw myself into it without reservations, I loved a place I expected to hate.
My challenge to you?
Pick your stand-in for my dinosaur museum. It can be a restaurant you think you won’t enjoy, a movie that’s been panned, or a book in a genre you don’t usually read. Don’t limit yourself. Try something you expect to hate. Embrace the moment, and let me know what happened for you.
5 Comments
I just did this over the weekend. I went to see the movie Mother! with my 17-year-old future filmmaker son. I expected to hate it. Figured it would be too artsy and weird for me. But I actually really liked it. My son and I are still discussing its symbolism and meaning. Of course, based on viewers reviews, our liking of it may be in the minority. ?
And oh how your “Land of the Lost” reference took me back to long ago Saturday mornings!
I’m going to see this movie, because I want to support artists who are willing to step outside the lines. We are genre-fucked as a society, largely thanks to Amazon, and I’m personally sick of it. Creations can be anything. I’m glad you shared this with me (and high five to your son.)
The writer/director definitely stepped outside the box, and like you, I think it was refreshing to see something new.
My grit-your-teeth-and-watch event is “The Vietnam War” film being shown on PBS. Ken Burns is a master storyteller. The film is very painful for me to watch. I am beset by old sadness, fear, and anger. In the big picture, it is something I have to endure because it was “my” war. I lost dear friends to it. It changed my life. The luck of the draw, literally, dictated that I didn’t have to go. But watching PBS for the next couple weeks will be difficult for several reasons. Not the least of which is how our government lied to us and the arrogance of our leaders at the time was responsible for so many people dying. Arrogance in international leaders is NOT OKAY. There are certainly parallels between then and now. After this film runs it course, will I be uplifted? No. But I will be better informed and have a much deeper understanding of a part of my life that still colors me to this day.
i’m so glad that it was wonderful, in spite of your low expectations. we learn each and every day. my challenge this summer has been walking all of the ann arbor parks, 150+, especially since i have an incredibly horrible sense of direction )
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