Philly Zoo with the Whites

     Traffic was good.  Children were happy.  Weather was fine.  We were early.  It's in these moments I start to look behind me.  We met the rest of our tribe for the big event...loaded up the car...backed out of the driveway and ....sssssssscrape.  Seemed innocent enough until the neighbor called my nephew who called me to report that the radiator appeared to be leaking.  Within seconds the dashboard was lighting up like the 4th of July shows we have recently viewed.  First garage chuckled.  Second try was successful.  Change of plans and a car ride back we now have two vehicles headed to the zoo.  The girls in one and the boys in the other. 
     Parking was easy.  Family membership covered almost all of us.  We saw a few animals and decided to eat since the rain was looming.  We found a table for lunch and I nabbed a delicious roasted veggie wrap.  I looked at my awesome family and took a moment to be grateful.  As we finished lunch the clouds rolled away and the sun returned.  Hmmmm.....
     Oh look a lion...a tiger...some lighting.  We headed for cover in the primate building.  I teared up as I watched the magic of the gorilla  near the glass.  (Jenne will giggle as she reads this part.)  I watched the mischief and the mayhem of the little guys.  We then heard a story about how the monkeys were stealing the bolts off of the display and trading them for snacks.  Clever little monkeys.  We sought refuge from what now looked like a monsoon outside of the large windows.  We then decided to call it a day.  We headed back to the cars sloshing in miniature rivers ankle deep in some places.  We tried to share umbrellas as we lugged stroller, bags and four children safely back to the parking lot.  We were drenched.  But somewhere along the rushed walk back I started to laugh.  We all sort of did. 
     A "perfect" day would have been nice.   There would be lots of pictures of sunshine and magic.  The kids might have learned a thing or two...
     My nephew made me giggle at one point as he said "Why do people get so excited that they can see animals?!? It's a zoo...you are SUPPOSED to see them.  If we were walking down the street it might be crazy to suddenly see a lion but this is a zoo!!!" Between that statement and the way we handled the challenges of the day... I learned my lessons.  See, I had just said a short while before..."What is this latest test?". 
     See, it's LIFE.  It's supposed to feel like living.  Easy all of the time would get too simple.  We would stop appreciating the moments of perfect ease.  Life has to keep us on our toes.  Sometimes a car issue is a pain in the butt now but maybe it saved us from something horrible happening later on.  Turns out things were just fine.  Maybe it could've been  a gorgeous day but the rain made us get home at a time that kept us out of harm's way.  There are always maybes and wonder ifs and the occasional if only but it ended up being just perfect just the way it was.  With a decision to stay over while the repairs happened we went on to have a great dinner, the kids snuggled with popcorn while watching movies and the adults played a lovely game of Trivial Pursuit.  We talked.  We reminisced about times with a mother and grandmother we all miss dearly.  We laughed.  We shared.  I had another moment when everything was on pause and I looked around at the beautiful group of people who had shared an adventure together.  Kids saw adults problem solve and move forward and smile right  through the damn challenges.  Anyone can have a perfect day but it takes something special to create an adventure.