Body Worlds

I finally got a chance to go see Body Worlds yesterday.  I went with my fellow "Dillier wives" Jen and Steph.  It's always fun to do stuff with them because we're pretty much married to the same man.  Jen is married to "Dillier - the original".  I am married to "Dillier 2.0 - the geek version" and Stephani is married to "Dillier 2.5 - New! With long flowing hair!"  It's nice to be able to complain about some weird quirk my husband has and have them know EXACTLY what I'm talking about because their husbands have the exact same quirk.

Anyhow, despite their merciless teasing about my bad driving and lack of a sense of direction, we got to The Leonardo safe and sound (thanks to Ms. Garmin), scrounged up change for a two hour parking meter and went to see the exhibit.

Which was awesome.

I don't really have words to describe it. "Fascinating" would probably be a good one.  Also, "Rawhide dog bone" would be another descriptive phrase I could use.  I was moved by the thought that some of these people were probably elderly, sick or even disabled, yet, in death, they were immortalized into these beautiful acrobatic poses, smiling and proud of their bodies.  I very nearly signed up then and there to have my body donated to the exhibit, but I thought I'd better check with John first.  Then I realized, I wouldn't neccesarily become one of the full body artistic displays.  I could become just a slice. A cross section, which doesn't sound nearly as sexy to me. 

The area with the fetuses was interesting as well.  I looked for a long time at the 9 week fetus, as that is when the doctors estimated John and my first pregnancy stopped developing, though I didn't miscarry until I was three months along.  I'd seen photos of a 9 week fetus in books, but to see it, to see how HUMAN it really looked, I was actually a little shocked.  The older fetuses were harder for me to look at.  I did though, I held Max tight to my chest and looked at the tiny little babies, most of them boys, remembering what it felt like when my own boys were healthy inside of me at that age, kicking and wiggling.  I think I played it cool while I was there, but it was the most emotional part of the exhibit for me.

At the end of the exhibit, there was a place where you could pick up and hold some plasticised organs.  Both Jen and I jumped a little at our first touch of a kidney, it wasn't really gross, you just don't expect it to feel like that.  Kind of waxy, like soap.  There was also a place where you write down a secret about your body and they tape it to a wall.  I left my secret.  And there was a little bakery with overly inflated prices.  As Jen said, if I pay that much for a cupcake, it had better give me an orgasm. 

While I was off seeing dead people, Alex was spending the afternoon with Grandma Babs.  They had all kinds of fun going to the farm and to the Build a Bear shop at the mall where he made a dog dressed in a U of U t-shirt, red hat, blue jeans, black sketchers and a silver sequined purse.