“Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study.

Be a student so long as you still have something to learn,

And this will mean, all your life.” 

Henry L. Doherty

Tiny Flat Stanley just came for a visit

He had arrived in the mail from Austin

His cross country trip had started in Seattle

At the very Creative Arts School For Children

After mulling it over with my spouse and Flat Stan

I decided to take them both on a trip to the Big City

Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History is a favorite

And driving along gigantic Lake Michigan is always pretty

As we entered the museum’s elaborately decorated lobby

I could tell Flat Stanley was impressed with gigantic old Sue

She’s a wondrously re-constructed Tyrannosaurus Rex Dinosaur

And just staring at her wide-eyed, can usually take away the Blues

The next stop on our ‘Must See’ Agenda for good old Flat Stanley

Was the fascinating and enormous Exhibit of the Ancient Americas

I could spend days in that exhibit, marveling at the ancient treasures

And learning more about the indigenous peoples that lived before us

After some lunch and ice cream, for my wife and good old Flat Stan

I soon ushered them both over to see one of my favorites – Old Bushman

He’s a splendid gorilla that had lived for ages in one of Chicago’s two zoos

They preserved his body after he passed away of old age, which is truly grand

After spending several hours at the museum, I could tell my spouse was weary

So we finally bid our farewell to Sue, and headed back out to our cozy home

Now, I’m mulling over sending Flat Stanley off on an Adventure to New Jersey

But I’d hate to read the Jersey Devil ate him, in a very sad, Rufuz the Dog Poem

Since The Flat Stanley Child Literacy Project started several years ago, he has traveled all over the world, on many great adventures.  Today, he’ll be visiting one of Sue’s relatives, a tiny pet lizard at one of my wife’s schools.

Sue lived about 67 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period. She was discovered in 1990 on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, by fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson.

T-Rex Sue also had an insatiable appetite – just like my Brother Ed in Jersey.  On second thought, maybe I better send good old Flat Stanley off on an adventure to Kentucky instead…

©2008, Mr. Ed