WARNING! MANY OF THE PICTURES AND VIDEOS IN THIS BLOG ARE OF A GRAPHIC NATURE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I had no intentions of taking my mother anywhere. To be honest, I had no intention of being anywhere near her. Do not misread this, I harbor no feelings of animosity toward her, no loathing of her parental practices. I love my mom, but she has had a bout with the superflu that is going around and I had no desire to catch it.

She had the flu, but she called me yesterday and informed me that she is now over it and doing well. And with that news came great inspiration: I should take my mother out. A little day-date, if you will, between mother and son. It had been a long time since I had spent any time with her, and I wanted to take her to something she would enjoy. I was pondering this, when a commercial came on the television that altered the course of my entire day.

It was for Bodies-The Exhibition.

Have you heard of it? In case the answer is "no", let me fill you in. "Bodies" is a traveling exhibit that showcases real human cadavers, amazingly preserved, with the skin removed to expose the muscles, organs, and other body parts underneath. The news show "20/20" did a piece on it last Friday, which I missed.

Next, you're wondering, "Why on Earth would a son take his mother to see that?" You see, I don't have a normal mom. Mother is fascinated by autopsy shows, forensic magazines, etc. When I told her my plans, she was ecstatic. "I'd love to go!" she said. So we did.

The exhibit was being shown in The Cincinnati Museum Center, near downtown. If you ever make a visit to the Queen City, you must make a stop at the Cincy museum, if only to admire the exquisite architecture.

Be forewarned, this exhibit is not cheap! I walked in expecting to pay the usual $7.50/person that is charged, but to my surprise the cashier told me I owed her forty-two dollars. And that is with my mom's senior discount! I had already committed to taking her, so there was no backing out now. I chucked out the cash, received our tickets, and headed straight to the exhibit.

In my opinion, it was money well spent.

The exhibit is a fascinating and educational journey into the human body. There is nothing grotesque about it; they don't smell, or look like something out of a horror film. They look a lot like drawings from an anatomy book.

The full bodies are showcased without any glass casings. You can get right up on them and look as close as you want. Just don't touch.

The exhibit also features various body parts in glass. My favorite was a complete look at the circulatory system. How they managed to remove all the blood vessels is beyond me!

It was only after returning home that I learned of the controversy surrounding the exhibit. All of the bodies are Chinese, and there are questions concerning who they were before they died, and if they actually consented to this. There is even speculation that many of them are Chinese prisoners of war. I hope not; I would like to think that nobody would stoop so low to turn a buck, no matter how profitable their work may be.

Does the exhibit cater to the morbid? Perhaps. I will admit I had a morbid fascination when I entered the place, but I also learned a lot from the experience. And that is what truly matters.