Brave in my head

Frank's birthday was last month, and we decided that we wanted to celebrate by going to Fossil Rim, but we couldn't fit it on our schedule until yesterday. His mom came with us, and my mom stayed and watched Allison all day. It was about a two hour drive to Glen Rose, and we spent about three hours in the park feeding and petting the wildlife.

Frank and Jackie (Frank's mom) were very brave with the animals. They were fine with feeding them out of their hands and petting them. I, on the other hand, was not. I was very afraid of the animals touching me - specifically with their teeth - but I very badly wanted to get as much out of the experience as possible. The first animal we encountered was a single ostrich that was aggressive about getting his food and I ended up squealing in panic and yelling at Frank to floor it. The rest of the animals were much nicer about getting their share and I was pretty comfortable with feeding them after a while.



But then as we were about to leave the park I saw the chance to redeem myself from the embarrassing display earlier. Just ahead was a pack of ostriches. We barely had any food left for them but I decided I would just let them peck the food out of the bag - even though there are signs everywhere warning that that is not the proper way to feed the animals. I was brave in my head. I had convinced myself that I could be close to these towering birds and manage to feed them without freaking out.

I rolled down my window and offered the bag to the approaching ostrich. He wasted no time sticking his head in the bag and I was shocked at the force with which he attacked the food. Of course, I immediately freaked out, but he was about to peck for more. I quickly decided to abort, and tried to throw the bag out the window to avoid being pecked at again. Unfortunately, I was in such a state of panic that I couldn't even accomplish that small task. Like a spaz, I ended up throwing the food all over the car and a good portion of it landed in my lap. Survival mode kicked in, but since I was too afraid to roll up my window I instead lunged for Frank's lap. He saved me by rolling up my window, and the ostrich stood there pecking at my window in his attempt to further intimidate me. I was having flashbacks from the movie Jurassic Park. lol.

After I again humiliated myself I tried to convince Frank that he thought my "spazziness" was cute. I'm still going to count this as an accomplishment. Fake confidence is better than none, right? Enjoy the slideshow!