A Day at the Museum

Yesterday was Juneteenth, a federal holiday in the U.S. Ger didn't have work and my kids didn't have camp.

I'd planned for all of us to go to the Art Institute of Chicago. I was just there a few weeks ago, by myself, before my neurosurgery consult. There is a Frida Kahlo exhibit on display right now, and Autumn was mad that I didn't take her.

Quentin wasn't too keen on a trip to the Art Institute, but I convinced him to come along. I said, "Look, I might not be able to do museum trips for a while after surgery. So I'd like us to do this together." And he agreed.

Shortly before we left the house, we learned that there was a major event happening in Chicago and a lot of the streets near the Art Institute would be blocked off. So we quickly changed plans to visit the Museum of Science and Industry instead, which has a special Spider-Man exhibit for the next few months.

When we arrived, I went to the membership desk to purchase Spider-Man tickets. I was told that the first available entry time was 4:30 pm. It was 10:30 am. There was no way we could wait around until 4:30.

I said to the ticket person, "Look. I have a brain tumor. I'm having brain surgery in a few weeks and I don't know what the outcome will be. I can't make it all the way until 4:30. Is there anything you can do to let us in earlier?" I started crying. The words I spoke were true: I don't know when we'll be back at the museum. And if we didn't see Spider-Man that day, we'd miss it.

The young man said, "Oh wow, ok, yeah, I'll see what I can do." He wrote a note on our tickets that said, "Please let these folks in right away." It worked. We didn't even have to explain "brain tumor" at the exhibit entrance; we were waved right in.

I didn't feel guilty at all about playing the brain tumor card. The next few months are really going to suck. I need to enjoy things while I still can.

The museum was colossally crowded. I assumed that it would be slightly busy for the Juneteenth holiday (people not working), but it was far more than that. I found out that the museum had a free admission day for Illinois residents, which is offered a few times per year.

We wove our way through the crowds in the Spider-Man exhibit. I don't really care about Spider-Man, but everyone else in my family was pretty excited. The exhibit contained original artwork and comic books, tracing Spider-Man's changes over the years.

I took a lot of photos. It felt like this would mark a "before." And the surgery will be "after." We're frequent museum-goers, and I truly don't know how our family outings will be impacted in the future, if I emerge from the surgery with any physical deficits.

After the exhibit, we ate lunch and then headed home. Everyone was overwhelmed by the number of people and exhausted.

But I was fine with the short visit. My only goal was to spend the day with my family.