To Visit Africa

Remember the Planet Earth mini-series some years ago?   It was narrated by David Attenborough (or Sigourney Weaver, depending on your locale) and showed some of the most stunning videos of our planet and life upon it?    I loved that series and Blue Planet, one of the ones that followed.   My husband recorded one recently and we both watched it while we ate our lunch and I was just as transfixed watching this series about Africa. 

Today we watched our third installment of the series and I thought again, as I’ve done many times in my life, that I’d like to visit Africa.   Africa is so mind bogglingly large with so many different things to see that I’ve never bothered to narrow it down to anything other than the simple phrase, “I want to visit Africa someday.”   

And that’s when I got sad.   I do want to visit Africa, but what I mean more than visit is I want to SEE Africa.   Now that I have two small offspring, I want to plan a trip with my family, take a long vacation over the summer months and have a lifetime memorable trip somewhere where we can see the majesty of nature (location TBD) in Africa.    But to do so, it helps to see, and we’re currently one family member down in that area.  

We are all hoping the future won’t be so literally bleak for my daughter, but for now, trips to visit and see places aren’t as high up on my “wishful thinking” list as they were six months ago.    They are by no means off the list, they’re just not holding a spot as high up. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl “I Never Get To” Complaint:   My children have both started doing this and it is something I try not to laugh at when they do, because it’s so serious for them even if their logic is faulty.    For instance one might ask if they can have a cookie for snack.   Upon receiving the answer of ’no’ they promptly wail, “I never get to eat a cookie!”   Yesterday they never got to have a bath and the day before it was orange juice.   It’s always