The Rhino Enclosure

Researchers say that one of the best senses used to retrieve memories is the sense of smell. Put on the perfume that you wore on that first date and the memories come flooding back. I had a similar experience this morning...

We have a friend who is a volunteer zoo keeper at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. She spends every Saturday morning with the Giraffes, mucking out their enclosures and caring for them and the Okapi. Several years ago, she graciously offered to take a group of friends on a behind the scenes tour of the zoo before opening time. We actually were lucky enough to have gone the two times that she did it. The first time we went, we got a tour of the Rhino House.

When you walk into this cement block-walled building, the odor knocks you in the face all the way to your toes. It can only be described as foul. The zoo keepers suggested that we take three deep breaths to help us adjust. It helped but you never escaped the smell. It is the kind of odor that clings to every soft surface and would force a bottle of Febreeze to its knees in submission.

I was instantly reminded of the images of that giant Rhino behind the thick metal gates this morning when I went into the nursery of my 1 year old. It hit me when I walked into the room and I reminisced about the zoo trip throughout the diaper changing, 20 wipe using, complete undressing episode. In my mind, I traveled from one enclosure to another trying to decide which zoo animal had infiltrated the usually pleasant room occupied by my second-born son. It was definitely the Rhino.