Holy Sh** I can’t believe that even exists…at the zoo.

Yesterday we went to the zoo. I have mixed feelings about zoos, always, but I was pleased to learn that most of the animals at the Tacoma Zoo in Washington have been bred in captivity. They have never known the wild life. This makes me feel better somehow—still I know they must have wild dreams. I bet in their bones they yearn for something different, something just beyond their grasp in the way people who feel stuck in a dead end job do—dreaming of unknown freedoms that sing in their blood night after night telling them a different story. At least they have their dreams. Oh and the food in their bellies. Thank you for your service zoo animals.

The star for me was this giant: 3500 lbs. of walrus with the name of ET. I felt jaw-dropping astonishment every single time he made his swimming round back toward us at the underwater glass. It was like a floating ton (literally—almost 2 tons) of blubber with eyeballs and whiskers moving through green hued water. Surreal. I’ve never seen such a thing in my life! Just his crazy back fins were almost as long as my son.

I think I said “Holy Shit!” every time he came around the corner. I doubt the other mother’s appreciated that—but I literally couldn’t help myself.