This past weekend, a three-day weekend, my wife and I went to visit our son in Idaho. We took along one of our daughters and her one-year-old son. I’d forgotten how much fun it can be to travel with a baby. And I don’t mean that facetiously. It brought back a lot of memories from when my kids were little.
This wasn’t an activity filled vacation but we did make a visit to the zoo—for the grandkid. Now, as far as I’m concerned, the only reason to go to the zoo in the first place is the monkeys. If the monkey’s shenanigans are in full swing, I could spend the entire time just watching them. In fact, I’d be perfectly happy to let everyone else make the rounds to see the rest of the animals and come back to let me know when they’re done.
On this particular visit, I was lucky. There was one monkey who seemed to take an interest in me and we had quite the conversation going—sort of, the monkey didn’t do a whole lot of talking. But he did respond when I talked. When I told him he should move from the back of the cage to the front, he actually did. And then, he stayed there for a while staring back at us, making faces. Really! I’d ask him questions and he’s respond with some facial contortion. When I asked if he was lonely in the cage all by himself, he hung his head and covered his face with his hands.
As a kid, I always wanted a monkey of my own—my own little home-entertainment system. As you can imagine, my parents were not thrilled with the idea. And no, I never got one.
I did know a guy once who owned several monkeys and he swore they make the best pets. According to him, they enjoy clowning around, are fond of playing tricks, and respond well to human interaction. Just what I need! He also said they learn things pretty fast. So that got me to thinking; maybe now that I’m an adult, I should get a monkey—for the grandkids, of course. I could teach him tricks, maybe teach him sign language so he could talk, or on a more intellectual level, how to play chess. And if I could train him to drive my truck, that would be awesome!
I can hear my wife having a heart attack as she reads this. Do you suppose if I taught the monkey to do housework, she’d be okay with it? Probably not.
Okay, truth be told, I don’t actually think having a pet monkey would be all that great. I’m sure their antics would quickly become annoying and I know they are not exactly the cleanest creatures in the world. Besides, I no longer need a monkey, I have grandkids!
Deceived: Soul Keeper by L.A. Starkey | How To Get Anything You Want by Mike Nach | Living With Grown-Ups by Nadege Nicoll |
Harmony Kent
The Glade