Two Stories of the Aquarium

Saving the Best for Last
So, I'm the kind of guy who saves the best for last...the growth of anticipation and the greatest reward. I have a certain way of eating sandwiches so that the "perfect" bite is always the last one I eat. I ALWAYS eat dessert AFTER dinner. If I know its going to be good, I'll even wait until I get home to open it / eat it / play with it.

Now, knowing that everyone thinks exactly like I do, I had the trip to the Georgia Aquarium all planned out for my mother and Maddy. We would start with the "boring" stuff (the river fishes and the local fare...catfish and the like), make our way over to the pretty reef fishes and the jelly fishes, and finish with the pièce de résistance...the whale sharks and the gynormous (I can use this word now, grammar Nazis...look it up) aquarium they're housed in.

Now, I know what you're thinking and believe me, I was surprised too. Not everyone thinks exactly like I do. In fact, some people have completely differing opinions, but I digress. For those who have not had the opportunity to make it to the Georgia Aquarium, suffice it to say that its amazing. It is currently the largest aquarium in the world and the exhibits are grand (especially the belugas and the whale shark enclosure...my opinion), but for those of you who may have a grandmother and a two year old in tow, it might be better to see the best sights first before a nap could outshine the beauties of the deep.

The Grouper
My sister should remember this and my mother may as well. This is a story that begins many many years ago with a book called (I think) "Sharks and Other Dangerous Sea Creatures." It was a small book of glossy photos that my father bought for my sister and I to share (although I think I had possession of it for the most part). On the cover, it had a picture of the mouth and little beady eyes of a (not so happy) moray eel and inside were pictures of the various creatures and a brief synopsis of the reasons why this particular animal had the honor of gracing the pages of the book.

The one that always stuck with me wasn't the great white or the barracuda or even the poisonous sea snakes and snails that could get you without you even knowing it. No, the one that always stuck with me was the giant grouper and there was one sentence that did it. It went something like this: "...and although the giant grouper is not generally dangerous to man, it could easily swallow prey the size of a small boy."

Now, when faced with a tiny 2" x 3" picture of this scary sea creature, its easy to laugh it off and then secretly think to yourself "man, I hope I never meet one of those in a dark alley." Its a different story altogether when you're standing face to face with the 400 pound monster with your (smallish) two year old standing behind you and rather disturbing to know first hand that the book was right. I think I saw him eyeing her hungrily.

So even though we were all tired, we managed to make it through the aquarium unscathed and even venture over to the NEW World of Coke. Although Maddy absolutely REFUSED to pet the bear, she couldn't bear to have the bear (get it? bear) out of her sight throughout the rest of the exhibit.