Wonders

In "Barter," poet Sara Teasdale writes of "children's faces looking up/Holding wonder like a cup." Last Friday, as a new seven-year-old, Beenie reminded me just how accurate Teasdale's simile is.

I watched as he looked up onto Sheep Mountain and into the African savannah. Best of all, I watched as he gazed into the 1.5-million-gallon aquarium that is home to some 35,000 live fish and other aquatic creatures displayed at the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Mo.

Pa-pa and I marveled as well at the sights and sounds of this 350,000-square-foot all-indoor attraction with its 1.5 miles of trails through land and sea habitats and their inhabitants. We saw zebra sharks and penguins, and touched the smooth, velvety backs of stingrays.

Now in its third year of operation, the museum/aquarium is the brainchild of conservationist and Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris, and it sits next door to the original Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World at the intersection of Sunshine and Campbell Streets. On Friday, Pa-pa and I took advantage of a special half-price promotion in an attempt to make Beenie's seventh birthday especially memorable, since he has developed a love for all things aquatic.

After our trip we continued the birthday party on the dock near our home, where we tried to coax a few reluctant crappie onto the hook, but to no avail. They got a reprieve this time, but Pa-pa's brand-spanking new fishing boat portends a summer of grandkid fishing trips and family fish fries.

Although our adventures took place on March 22, two days after Beenie's actual birthday (and, coincidentally, our 38th wedding anniversary), we did celebrate the big day itself at Beenie's house with the traditional cake, ice cream, and candle. Looking back, I see that I had been writing "Googie's Attic" a little over a year when Beenie was born, and that I announced his birth in a blog post titled "The Trifecta." Now, as he did then, he fills our lives with joy and--yes--with wonder.

Happy birthday, Beenie-boy. You have a special lock on your spot as Grandkid #4. You are our intelligent, quirky, sweet, fun kid with a from-the-belly laugh that we can't get enough of. Like your great-grandma Florence, whom you never got to meet, you have definitely inherited the fishing DNA. When another seven years have gone by, you will be a teenager--but I hope that will be many, many fish from now.