Sundaze

For the debate about who is happier—couples with kids (CWIKs) or couples without kids (CWOKs)—I undertook unscientific research at the zoo this afternoon by observing 1.) strolling couples unencumbered by children, shoulders jostling as they gazed into each other's smiling eyes, taut stomachs, casual weekend wear still fashionable and 2.) couples shoving toddler-laden strollers, bags under eyes, twenty extra pounds at their hips over which ill-fitting shorts hung shapelessly, staring blankly toward unknown motes on opposite horizons. The CWOKs had it! Definitely looked happier than the CWIKs.

But with a thumbs up to their easy happy luxurious unfettered Sunday, did the CWOKs get to play Guess-The-Animal-That-Crawled-Onto-Our-Lawn-This-Morning-And-Died with their 2 and 7-year-old?

 

"It's a mouse," said my daughter.

"No, it's a puppy," she corrected herself.

"How do you know it's dead?" she demanded.

"Oh, it's alive. It's an animal that doesn't need to breathe," she concluded.

Despite it all, today was one of those brilliant blue late summer days where the sun cuts a golden swath, rendering everything in its path magical, fleeting—including caged animals, rested couples, and tired parents (none of which appear in the picture below, you'll have to take my word for it).