There’s been a merry go round in the mall for the last 4 years or so. You pay a dollar for a token, and get a ride. Ever since my daughter was six months old, every once in a while I’d take her there and we’d ride the merry go round. I’d stand there and hold her while she smiles that big delighted and smile and goes “wheeeee!”
So we walk throught he mall and holding her little two year old hand, and she keeps saying “Horsey? Horsey?”
We get to where the merry go round is and…
…it’s not there anymore. There’s a couple of gumball machines and some benches, but it’s gone.
“Horsey?” asks my daughter confused.
“Horsey all gone,” I say, that being all there is to say.
“Horsey all gone,” my daughter confirms.
If she’d ahve cried or thrown a tantrum or something, that would be ok, but she was just disapointed, and somehow that made me feel really rotten. I’d promised her the ride, and didn’t deliver.
I know that ride probably didn’t pay for itself, but it was a good thing to have, and it made that crappy little country mall special.
Bring your daughter out to Seattle, Scylla. There’s a great old restored merry-go-round in a building on the waterfront. Horses, carriages, flashing lights - it’s great. Very close to the Seattle Aquarium, too. Think your daughter will like sea otters?
Henry Ford’s Museum/Greenfield village has a wonderful restored and fully functional carousel, complete with steam calliope(runs on compressed air at the moment). Also an Imax theater. And the definitive museum of the industrial revolution. Great fun. It’s in Dearborn, outside detroit. Membership is the cost of a nice dinner for two.