moby's dick

Get it?




But seriously, the whole thing was really cool and sad and beautiful and stinky. (hello, four day old dead whale...ew.) So basically, for those of you not in the know, this juvenile whale washed ashore at a park sorta near where I live. From the info I can gather it died from a combination of starvation, a wind storm and an orca attack. (why does my spell check not recognize 'orca'?) Rough couple of days, for mister teenage whale, yo.

So we went to see it on Wednesday afternoon.

We used this opportunity to talk about death with the children.

Exhibit A:

Ryan: Be respectful, remember this whale was once alive and swimming in the ocean.

Me: And it's gonna stink. It's a giant dead body!

Exhibit B:

Kid1: What's that green thing in it's mouth?

Me: Its tongue.

Kid1: Why's it green?

Me: I dunno, like, bacteria or something. That's what happens to dead things. They get all rotten.

Kid1: Maybe my tongue will turn green when I die.

Me: Yeah, probably.

---

Here are some pictures, because I know how much you all love dead animals.

Warning: sad and gross photos ahead with some blood and weird square holes for some reason (?) (you'll see)








And I'll be honest; as much as I make jokes and talk about its penis, it was really awful to imagine this whale alive just four days previous. It was a privilege to be able to see it, and ... well this photo makes me feel sad, but at the same time, isn't there something telling about it? I don't know. Like maybe there is a bit of expression left on this whale's face.


I'm super lucky to have seen this.

It was amazing.
:)