If you thought this post was about the noted astronomer, then you’ve been deceived. Carl is my brother-in-law and Sagan is his three-year-old charge. She is a delightful child and it was a pleasure to spend the day with her. Way-back in the Jurassic period BC (Before Children) we first experimented with the idea of child raising, by trying it out with other people’s kids. That seemed to work well enough, at least we learned a few things from our mistakes.
Fast forward to today. We’re pretty much out of the parenting biz now, but we’re looking on to grand parenting, some day. In the meantime, why not try out someone else’s child? It worked before, enter Sagan. Anne still routinely deals with preschoolers. I do not. I made a few mistakes with her. like when I tried to explain the phrase, “There was no fuzz on that decision.” I don’t think that I was able to adequately convey the concept to her. Meanwhile, Anne had her endlessly counting out the numbers of thermoplastic molded army men, rocket ships and skeletons.
I was able to wow her though. The best thing about a three year-old is that all my old gags are still new to her. I wowed her first with Siri, when it said. “Hello Mark.” Half-a-billion dollars ought to please even a three-year-old. I was trying to convince her that my iPhone was a computer and not just a phone. I think that greeting made my argument. I think that we cemented our friendship on the ride down to the aquarium. Anne noticed the waterfront, Marco Polo Hotel. One call of “Marco” is all it took. Soon me and the rest of the car were all calling out, “Marco”, “Polo”. In my humble opinion, I rocked the three-year-old set.
The sea otter was playing its own version of Calvin ball, which involved first sinking the basket and then floating the ball into it. In order to dunk the ball, the otter would first crawl into the basket. Octopus terminally mate, like when you’re done, you are really done. Salmon and mayflies are similar. Last Valentine’s day the aquarium let their two octopus conjoin, then they were released. Maybe, to just get rid of the bodies?
It was bright and sunny day in Seattle. It was awesome!