A Dream That You Wish Can Come True

How well do you know me? I mean if you're reading this blog you probably know me pretty well. I won't lie, I secretly hope I have followers who creep on my page who don't even know me, but in reality I am probably not telling any stories important enough or charming enough or witty enough for that to really be the case. So, chances are, you know me.

The point is, if you know me, you know I love dolphins. I'm not exaggerating here either, I think they are the most amazing creatures ever. It all started with a 3rd grade research paper that turned into an obsession that turned into a love that equated writing every single research paper required of me that I could on these amazing animals. If I wasn't a human, I would want to be a dolphin. When you can't find a gift for me you can just get me anything with a dolphin on it. I mean a picture frame, a snow globe, a night light, a knick knack, a candle...whatever you can find - if it has a dolphin on it, I will love it. I mean the same applies for orca whales and sea turtles, but not to the same extent as the dolphin. When you walk in my house I have an entire shelf the hall way length long that displays this amazing collection I have acquired. Boy, do I love me some dolphins.

All that to be said, when I was a little girl, land locked in this great state I love, I never believed I would see a dolphin in real life, much less touch one, or kiss one, or swim with one! I dreamt about it though. Oh, how I dreamed. I even prayed sometimes I would get to pet a dolphin when I was a little girl. I never imagined it would be an attainable wish.

Fast forward to December of 2011. Well, really more like July of 2011 when the mister and I were booking our honeymoon cruise.  We booked with Carnival because it was cheap and they had a payment plan. I mean really guys, cruises are the way to go. You have to deal with airfare and all that jazz but the cruise itself, tips included, was less than a thousand bucks. LESS! So we had some wedding money and some savings and we booked. With my Mom's help. Who is a travel genius. Call her if you need a trip, ours wouldn't have been the same without her.

It was a few months later when I thought, "OH MY GOSH! I could swim with the dolphins!" Alas, time and research revealed it was 150 a person. 300 bucks was a 3rd of the whole freakin cruise cost! I couldn't justify it. Not with the cost of one textbook equating the same as a dolphin swim. Education lasts forever you know.

Enter young Lucas, who told me that he never gave me a wedding present so therefore he would buy this dolphin dream for me. I told him he had to rent a tux, that WAS the present! He insisted and ultimately gave me a wedding gift that resulted in the second best day of my life.

Our dolphin's name was Darwin. He was the most perfect thing I've ever seen. He is 9 years old and he is a rescue dolphin.  He was rescued when he was 3 years old and was the victim of a shark attack. Thankfully he didn't end up being someones lunch and instead lived to make my dreams come true. If you look closely at the picture of him facing forward while jumping in the air you can see the half moon shaped scar next to his dorsal fin from the shark.  Considering I love rescuing animals it was the most perfect matching I could have hoped for.

Doug didn't originally want to do this. Even though Lucas gave us the money he had a hard time justifying it because it wasn't a very big dream of his to do this. However, I pleaded and he caved and we went together. While we were standing in the pool watching Darwin leap out of the air, he leaned over to me and said, "I am so glad you made me do this. It's amazing."

Basically to sum it up, I am going to borrow a comment my BFF made on my Facebook when she said, "I love your face in all of these (pictures).  It's a mixture of bliss and utter disbelief that you're actually with a dolphin."

But you better believe it.

I was with a dolphin.

AND

Dreams that you wish can come true.