Spawn 'til you Die!

A few months ago the girls and I went to Snake Lake in Tacoma. It's a Nature Center with great trails, etc. We adopted some salmon that were being raised for release for a buck a piece, what a bargain! Sophie named hers Sammy the salmon, and Maya (mie-a) named hers Mia (mee-a).

I had forgotten about the little fingerlings until I received a letter from the Nature Center a few days ago letting us know that our little darlings were being released into the wild. Would we like to be there? As good adoptive parents (I know we had forgotten for awhile, but give us a break) we would not miss it for the world.

I decided at this point that this was a fantastic opportunity to turn a $2 impulse purchase into a huge event. I had the girls pick out some ratty old white shirts and gave them a Sharpie marker and let them go to town. The shirts turned out fantastic, the fronts read , "Go Mia, Love, Maya" and "I love Sammy the Salmon". They had great renditions of smallish salmon (for some reason having only a tail and no extraneous fins, but oh well) swimming thru reeds.

My shirt - well, that took awhile. I first wanted to copy a Ray Troll painting that says "Spawn till you die!" But then I remembered that small children were going to be at this event with their often humorless mothers that may not appreciate my razor wit. Soooo, I on the front of my t-shirt I wrote, "Live free! Spawn with care!" This I thought was funny and reminded me of "Live free or die!" (which I had also been considering) On the back I drew a multitude of small fishies around large letters saying, "School's out!" You know, the school of fish is out - as in being released? And it has a double meaning because school just got out for the kids too?

I know that only incredibly intelligent and with-it people read this blog so I am sure you understood what I was going for immediately..... However, when the Mom's read my shirt at this event, more than a few said, "That is so sweet!" as if I really was concerned with their choices of spawning partners and/or habits. The school thing just went right over their heads. All I got on that one was, "When did your kids get out of school?" When will people realize that being a mother (or father for that matter) does not mean you must become devoid of all humor?

I was so proud to see my daughters jumping up and down after releasing their salmon. They were screaming, "Go Sammy! Swim! You can do it! See you later!" The others quietly released their fish and seemed to ponder the seriousness of the salmon life cycle before dejectedly walking back to their vehicles.

We had way more fun (and our salmon loved us more, I could just tell).