It terms of the weather, it was a gorgeous, wonderful Valentine’s Day in the Oklahoma City area Saturday. Did it get into the 80s? Surreal. It was one of those days you think that, if only, if only, Oklahoma was like this, say 25 percent of the time, the livin’ would be easy.
One of these mornin's you gonna rise up singin'You gonna spread your little wings and you'll take to the skyBut 'till that mornin' there ain't nothin' gonna harm youWith your mama and daddy standin' by—Summertime lyrics by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald
So I took my Valentine Dr. Jasmine Mulliken to the Oklahoma City Zoo, which was overflowing with people, primarily families, with lots and lots of young children in strollers, little wagons and all sort of other rolling contraptions that have apparently been invented since I had to cart my children around. I mean “lots” and “lots.” Let me state this, which was clearly based on the numerical evidence I witnessed Saturday: I think Homo sapiens are going to exist for a long time.
Ah, yes, but what about the critters? The elephants, the giraffes, the sea lions, the wild African dogs, the okapi, the gorillas, the chimpanzees, the cheetahs, the regal lion staring down at the human spectacle from his perch on top of a manmade rock formation created for his benefit by God-fearing Oklahomans?
The antics of the new baby elephant, Achara, really, brought tears to our eyes. What a pretty, pretty angel.