There’s an elementary school at the end of my block. School had started, but all the buses were still lined up in front. That can only mean thing: field trip.
Zoo? Nature trail? Museum? Play?
Time to collect everybody’s lunches and hit the road. Do they still sing, Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall? Probably not, but hopefully something fun has replaced it.
As I drove to work, I thought adults need field trips too. During the summer, my employer has a barbeque and our annual meeting. Not the same as traveling together to learn about native plants or exotic animals. My family never went to the zoo or museums. All those sights and smells, I’m looking at you monkey house, come from my school sponsored trips.
Being in clubs or extracurricular activities brings even more travel and fun. Then you become an adult, and you go to work. Maybe take a vacation or two, super book yourself for activities, and come home exhausted.
A field trip is planned by someone else, and you go along to all the events. Pay a flat fee and everything has been thought of and covered. I know the over sixty-five crowd has scheduled outings provided by park districts. There’s a big gap between high school and retirement for field trip opportunities.
Best we can do is remember where we went as children and try to duplicate the experience. Maybe pack a PBJ, a sense of wonder and playfulness. How hard can it be?
Mary Jo is a USA Today bestselling author and 2014 WRWDC Marlene Award winner. She writes whatever pops into her head including paranormal, fantasy, romance, and mystery stories. Being an eternal pessimist and multi-tasker helps Mary Jo put her characters in desperate situations. She reads, likes her kids, and is currently working on her next project.
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