City pass would defray cost of ‘I don’t know’ visits

“Because I Said So” column in The Commercial Appeal

April 1, 2010

The first question out of my children’s mouths every Saturday morning is usually, “Are we going anywhere today?”

The past couple of weeks, with spring in the air, I’ve told the housebound foursome that, “Yes, you’re going outside.”

But outside won’t do. The backyard is not far enough away from the inside, requires much less effort to get there and much — much — less expense than traveling across town to … where?

“Where would you like to go?” I ask them.

“I don’t know.”

I Don’t Know. It’s a faraway land of exotic promises and myriad possibilities. With a coastline on the Sea of Shrug, it borders the land of Mumbletopia and is inhabited by people other than, and much more fascinating than, their mother and me. It is a domain so vast as to be vague.

What is it these kids wish for? I don’t know … (read more)