In my English class, we were asked to write about something, a recent event perhaps, that had an inherent value to us or write about something incredibly funny. Well, it wasn't exactly recent but it does hold great value in my life.
When my children were quite young, around four or five years of age, their father and I would take them on a family vacation to stay at a beach resort for a week. We lived in Florida at the time. Most of our vacations were spent at that beach resort which was just north of the Florida Everglades.
We were used to seeing alligators in canals nearby our home or on the side of the road, so it wasn't something new to us. I believe it was our second vacation near the Everglades and we decided it would be exciting to take the kids to one of the many alligator parks there and take an airboat ride out into the marshlands. While out in the marsh we must have seen hundreds of alligators and plenty of other wildlife as well.
Once the airboat ride was over, the park had an alligator wrestling show. At that time, a young man around twenty or so walked into a sand pit that had two alligators in it. He walked over and grabbed one by the tail, taunted it for a minute or so, and then sat on it's back. This was, from what he told the audience watching, was a 9 1/2 foot American Alligator. He told all about their habitats, their teeth, and showed everyone how you could hold an alligators jaws closed with just two fingers. Once he was finished with the information part of the show, he asked if anyone from the audience was brave enough to come in the pit and sit on the alligator and hold it's mouth closed. No one from the audience was saying anything. So, me being the dumb*** I was, stuck my hand up and said, "I will." I couldn't believe what I had just said. The kids were saying, "go mommy, go sit on the alligator."
As I entered the pit and the young man told me how to approach, where to stand, and when and where to sit. The closer I got to the alligator, the more my nervous I became. Not from the gator he was holding but the one lying just 10 feet away. The young man was holding the jaws of the gator closed as I sat down on this huge creature. I grabbed the jaws of the gator and held them very tightly, to me it was a death grip. Just about that time, the young man shifted his weight and I thought he was getting up. I started to freak out and said to him, "Don't you move. You're not going anywhere." Of course he wasn't, but he wanted to see my reaction, which played good to the audience watching.
At this time my children were having a fit to sit on an alligator like mommy. The attendant by the pit gate began to lift my daughter into the pit and at that very moment the other alligator, that no one seemed to concerned about started moving towards the water. My daughter "lost it." she was holding on to the attendant so tight. Once we reassured her that it was okay to come into the pit, she was fine. She followed the young man's instructions, as I did, and came to where we were. As I got up off the alligator, my daughter hopped right on as if she had been doing it all her life. She showed no fear at all.
Well, my son, who did everything his older sister did, just had to sit on the alligator too. He was only three of four at the time. So, in walked their dad, holding my son, walked over to the alligator and sat right down. My son was actually petting the alligator. It was a sight to see. I could not for the life of me figure out why no one else from the audience wanted to do this. It didn't matter if they didn't want to.
That summer is one I will never forget. I have the VCR tape, which needs to be changed to a DVD, to look back on that day. That was the summer my family and I sat on the back of a 9 1/2 foot alligator and are still here today to tell about it.
As I entered the pit and the young man told me how to approach, where to stand, and when and where to sit. The closer I got to the alligator, the more my nervous I became. Not from the gator he was holding but the one lying just 10 feet away. The young man was holding the jaws of the gator closed as I sat down on this huge creature. I grabbed the jaws of the gator and held them very tightly, to me it was a death grip. Just about that time, the young man shifted his weight and I thought he was getting up. I started to freak out and said to him, "Don't you move. You're not going anywhere." Of course he wasn't, but he wanted to see my reaction, which played good to the audience watching.
At this time my children were having a fit to sit on an alligator like mommy. The attendant by the pit gate began to lift my daughter into the pit and at that very moment the other alligator, that no one seemed to concerned about started moving towards the water. My daughter "lost it." she was holding on to the attendant so tight. Once we reassured her that it was okay to come into the pit, she was fine. She followed the young man's instructions, as I did, and came to where we were. As I got up off the alligator, my daughter hopped right on as if she had been doing it all her life. She showed no fear at all.
Well, my son, who did everything his older sister did, just had to sit on the alligator too. He was only three of four at the time. So, in walked their dad, holding my son, walked over to the alligator and sat right down. My son was actually petting the alligator. It was a sight to see. I could not for the life of me figure out why no one else from the audience wanted to do this. It didn't matter if they didn't want to.
That summer is one I will never forget. I have the VCR tape, which needs to be changed to a DVD, to look back on that day. That was the summer my family and I sat on the back of a 9 1/2 foot alligator and are still here today to tell about it.
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