So I was strolling down memory lane this morning, wondering why our brains only hit record for certain events in our lives and not others, when a flood of childhood memories came back to me. Luckily they were all good memories!
One that really stood out in my mind was a clip of only a few seconds. I was at the zoo in Roanoke, Virginia with my mom. We were at the monkey cages and she was making the voices of the monkeys as they roamed around. “Oh, I think I’m going to go over here and eat some bugs.” “Wow! My arms are tired from all that swinging!” Stuff like that. I laughed harder than I had ever laughed in my short seven years on the planet.
Regularly, we take our son, Tank, to the San Fran Zoo and I always make the monkey voices for him too. We will surely do the same for Cricket, too, when she’s a bit older. I can only hope that their brains will be recording the same fun memories.
Anyway, that got me thinking about other fun things I liked to do as a kid and one of my all-time favorites was going to the Science Museum – also in Roanoke. It was so much ridiculous fun to get lost in the multiple, hands on exhibits. At the end, we would go to the gift shop and I could pick out a little something to take home. Sometimes I chose rocks, other times I’d choose a ring (that would turn my finger green before we even reached our home), and still other times my mom would splurge and get me a poster of one of the planets in our solar system. I absolutely LOVED the Science Museum!
And then I realized, our town doesn’t have a science museum. How can that be? How is it that my kid won’t have the same luxury (unless we go to San Fran or Monterey)? But alas, I was wrong… kind of.
Reno is working on bringing a new science museum to life! The Nevada Discovery Museum is going to be 5 miles from our house!!!! They are in the process of remodeling the former Reno City Hall and have secured a significant chunk of their needed funding to continue moving forward. This is huge for our community!
I encourage you to dig deep into your childhood memories. Remember what activity you just couldn’t get enough of. And then, go out and VOLUNTEER!! I’ve already signed up to work on the volunteer committee for this new museum and I can’t wait to get started.
I hope the new museum will have rings in the gift shop that will turn your finger green!
