Growing Pains: Confession #1

Remember in 1993 when Free Willy was released and Michael Jackson made this amazing song to go along with the film? 

Yes, this movie is all I thought about for the whole year after I saw it, and yes, I knew every word to that MJ song, and yes, I thought if I posed magically like this kid on a pier of rocks, the world's most loving and social whale would breach up out of the water and, by chance of all physics, just baaaaaaaaaaaarely missing me and then would return safely back into the deep... not shallow, sea water!! 

But this isn't the embarrassing part that I wanted to share with you. It is was when my 6-year-old self felt the need to do something about these innocent whales who were endangered. I indeed wrote down and even memorized the 1-800 number from the ad that was placed in the movie before the film started. The ad simply explained that we needed to come together to save the whales and that we were the only ones who could make a change. Naturally, I was emotional and I felt the sense of urgency to do my part.... I called not once, not twice, not even five times... I called so many times I lost track. I remember calling from my phone, my friend's phones, pay phones, and mostly the pay phones at the airports {that one is my most vivid memory of them all and yes we flew a lot... every other weekend}!!

What did I accomplish from calling? I have no freaking idea!!! All I know is every time I called I felt like I had to be sneaky about it because I wasn't 18 years old, I wasn't even half the age.  I remember the person on the other line always asking, "Are your parents there?" and that was my cue to hang up the phone and walk away nonchalantly like nothing ever even happened. {Which by the way I did the same thing to a psychic number at a friends house, and her mother was not please to say the least!!}

If movie producers want to make a change for the better good of a species, I would strongly encourage them to not use children to try and convince the phone operator that their imaginary credit card in fact would work with the 3 digits she would give them. A 6-year-old little brain cannot comprehend how this fake number will or will not help animals just like Willy... all she can understand is she needs to call to do her part. 

It's still my dream to do so many wonderful fantastic things with animals... one of which is this... 

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