Rain
Posted at 9:56 am May 2, 2007 by Gary VoylesRain time in the Zoo is like no other. A more personable time. An event
that brings a kind of camaraderie. We are momentarily drawn together in sheltered places, speaking and laughing, grinning and smiling. My sense of environment changes. I feel somehow changed. Fresher, cleaner, with a new jump start. People and critters all focused momentarily on the liquid sunshine that slipped under the radar, …and surprise!
Gary Voyles is a visitor assistance officer at the San Diego Zoo.
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May 2nd, 2007 at 10:09 am
Gary, it is so true that rain at a public event brings ” a kind of camaraderie” that would not exist if the sudden change in our environment did not occur. People must change course quickly, often huddling under small promontories for shelter. Thankfully people usually become more ” civil” and try harder to help each other out.
Animals often get energized by the sudden dip in temperature and source of liquid life. Some go about unfazed, and others suddenly brighten up and become more active. A few head for shelter, as they wrote about young panda Mei Lan when she encountered her first Spring showers last week, ” You would have thought her name was Chicken Little yelling ” the sky is falling!†based on how fast she ran to the doors wanting to be given access to her nice dry indoor dayroom.”
I can just picture your zoo guests, young and old, large and small, dashing for the nearest cover in case they might just melt from the rain. When the showers end everyone comes out re-energized with a new and different focus on where they were headed. I love your description, ” I feel somehow changed. Fresher, cleaner, with a new jump start.” What a great way to start a ” new” day.
May 4th, 2007 at 10:04 am
Gary, You are a wonderful poet! It is true–everything is fresher, cleaner–the scents, the crispness of the newly washed air, the intensified green of the plants, the renewed spring in the steps of the animals, the sprint for the nearest restaurant or gift shop to get one of those panchos, the feeling that you and the other ‘brave’ ones have the Zoo all to yourselves. In this Southern California area the rain is a gift, and what better way to enjoy it than to be at the Zoo or the WAP. Happy Spring! Blessed Be, Judy J