He had white hair (evident on his head and even his pubic area) and small tattoos on his hands in that spot between his thumb and his pointer fingers. The fine print on the sign outside the entrance says he and the other bodies on display gave permission for their bodies to be used in this way, for "education", but did he realize he'd be known as "The Drawer Man"...that his body would have cross-sections cut out of it and pulled out like drawers?
That was one of the questions running through my mind as I walked through the Body Worlds exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science this afternoon.
Actually, Kendall, Daniel, and I decided it was a perfect day to go to the zoo. The Houston Zoo is wonderful and we haven't been in a long time. Unfortunately, everyone else in Houston decided to go to the zoo today, too. We circled the parking lot for thirty minutes before giving up and deciding to go to the museum, after all.
It seems everyone else that gave up on the zoo idea decided to go to the museum today, too. The parking garage was closed right after the mini-van behind us, which is good because they let us in ahead of them! I would have felt awful if they didn't get in!!
Once inside, this is the line we stood in to get tickets! No evidence that our country is in a recession here, even in the Body Works exhibit, with $25 tickets (although we all got the college discount.)
However, it went pretty fast, and overall, the exhibit was interesting and educational - especially seeing the aneurysm (because my dad had one in his abdomen years ago), the "hardened" arteries, the healthy lungs vs. the "smoker's lungs", the enlarged hearts, the tumors and breast cancer, and the liver attacked by cirrhosis. The fetus exhibit claimed all examples were pre-1920's and from natural causes, but it was still heartbreaking. I found myself praying for all of these babies, and the people who donated their bodies to help us learn, and hopefully treat ours better, even as I saw some visitors laughing and joking. We're all so callous and desensitized from television programs and fake exhibits, I'm afraid. I guess it was hard to remember these were all living people, who loved and were loved.
I couldn't forget it, though...
Afterwards, we zipped through some of the other exhibits, mostly the shells and gemstones, just for old times sake. We've seen them a million times before. The museum was free after 2pm on Thursdays when the kids were little and we lived in LaPorte. We went a lot. They LOVED it. I knew when all the fun things were free. Every summer we had a "fun" day - we went to the Natural Science museum, the zoo, the Children's Museum, the Art Museum, or swimming, to the beach...something different every week.
Here are some samples of exhibits that NEVER change - and I'm glad.
They still have fun together, and I'm glad about that, too. (Look at all those other people!! I was ready to get back to my corner of the country and wide-open spaces!!)
