"Are there sharks and whales in there?"
I have no idea where she got the idea that sharks and whales frequent chlorine filled pools, but it has gotten in head and she won't let it go. Sometimes when we are in a pool, she will freak out thinking the shadow that the tree is making is a shark about to eat her. Now if this was the early 80's, I would totally understand. I mean who out there my age WASN'T terrified of sharks thanks to the classic film Jaws? I think I even went through a phase where I too was worried that maybe pool sharks were a real thing. However, Lana has never seen Jaws. As crazy as I am, I'm not THAT crazy to let me kids watch something like that. Never the less, she seems to have a serious fear of sharks, and for some reason, whales a bit too. So when we went to the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco, I was surprised when all she wanted to do was find the sharks.
From the moment we stepped foot in the aquarium, she started asking about where the sharks were.
"But Lana look over here! Cool Jellyfish!"
"Yeah! Where are the sharks?"
"We'll see them soon."
"When? Is this where the sharks are?"
It went on like this for the first 20 minutes of the aquarium. Then we took the elevator down to the tunnels you walk through where fish swim all around you. It's like being inside a giant fish tank. On the elevator ride down, the aquarium employee informed us there would be two tunnels we would walk through. One with big fish, starfish, etc. Then the second, oh! the second one would have sharks. THE sharks! That was all Lana heard. From the moment we stepped off the elevator and into the tunnels she looked all around at the fish asking for the sharks.
"Look Lana a starfish!"
"Oooooo! Where's the sharks?!"
I thought that first tunnel would take FOREVER to get through. When it finally led into the second tunnel, I saw a few sharks right away, and immediately pointed them out to Lana. She was excited and wanted to know where more were. Luckily they were, literally, swimming all around us and it wasn't hard to point more out. She squealed every time she saw a new one. Toward the end of the tunnel, as we were about to end the shark tour, I said.
"Do you see all the sharks now Lana? There are a lot here!"
"I know!" She said. "I'm SO happy!"
So the thing she fears so much in the water was the ONLY thing she cared about seeing at the aquarium. Not only was it the only thing she cared about seeing, but it made her SO happy. I can't say I don't understand this phenomena. I mean as scared as I am of sharks, thanks to Jaws, I am also completely fascinated with them. They are always the animal I like to find in aquariums, and Shark Week in August is a fun time for me. So I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised by her fear/fascination with sharks. It seems that she came by it naturally.
And truth be told, it's a good thing pools have clear water, otherwise I might still be hesitant to get in.
Da Na, Da Na, Da Na......
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