What's Going On: A boy, a dad and a T-rex named Sue
“Hey dad, is Sue as big as our car?”
“Yes Jackson, Sue is bigger than our car.”
“Is Sue bigger than that tree?”
“Yes Jackson, Sue is bigger than that tree.”
“Dad, is Sue bigger than the sky?”
“Well Jackson, Sue’s not quite that big. She’s big, though; probably about as tall as our house.”
I could hear the visual image forming in his mind as we pulled into the driveway, and for the first time in the last 30 seconds, there was silence.
“Dad, I’m so excited.”
***
I’m not sure there is a more natural attraction in nature than that of a child to a dinosaur, especially in the case of little boys.
I say especially in the case of little boys because I once was one. And when I was, I can remember frantically running into my parent’s house with the discovery of a lifetime. After years of annoying my folks with random holes in the yard in search of a prehistoric skeleton, I had finally found something.
It was a leg bone, of that I was certain. It was too small for a full grown brontosaur or T-rex, but it could have been a juvenile. Or maybe it was a smaller bone from a Triceratops. I prepared myself for the worst news possible though: it was a bone from a small, less famous dinosaur.
Imagine my disappointment when my mother kindly told me it was from the very non-extinct cow-a-saurus.
Regardless of that letdown, my passion burned as fervently as ever. Whether it was b-rated television shows or films, books or museums … if there were dinosaurs, I was entranced.
And as disappointed as I was those many years ago to learn that I had a bovine leg and not a brontosaur, my excitement was 100 times that when my wife returned from garage saling a few years ago with an exact copy of a Time Life Magazine book about dinosaurs I had read a billion times as a child.
The images were as real to me at 40 as they were at 6. The memories and familiarity surrounded me like an old sweatshirt on a brisk fall day.
Then Jackson got a hold of the book, and I saw his eyes widen. His excitement was uncontainable and he had to have me read him that book right then and right there.
Nothing could have made me happier.
***
As for Sue, my wife and I first saw the famed Tyrannasuorus Rex fossil in the renowned Field Museum in Chicago.
It was neat and worth seeing, as was the entire museum. But at that stage in my life, the excitement wasn’t percolating as it once did in my youth.
But when I heard a replica of Sue was coming to the Science Center in Des Moines, I knew there was a chance I would find that excitement again, or at least experience it second hand thanks to the boundless energy and enthusiasm of my son.
Soon-to-be four, he’s reached the age where his excitement is unbridled about the wonderful experiences life offers us, but all too frequently, we take for granted.
***
As for the actual experience, the anticipation was greater than reality in my son’s case.
He was excited when he saw the skeleton, but I could tell it didn’t quite meet his expectations. I imagine he was expecting something more lifelike that didn’t require him to use his imagination to “fill in the blanks.”
In fact, when asked later, he said his favorite part was naturally, getting to dig for dinosaurs. As part of the Sue display, the Science Center set up an “excavation site” which featured a large amount of rubber-type mulch covering some plastic “bones” and a bunch of spades for children to use for digging.
All in all though, the Science Center was a blast and the weekend was one we all enjoyed. Des Moines is a great city to visit and one we will return to for other day trips in the coming years.
Whether or not the excitement leading up to those future trips ever rivals the time we got to see Sue remains to be seen.
Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Red Oak Express and Glenwood Opinion-Tribune. He can be contacted at publisher@redoakexpress.com.