Luckily, our Christmas Day was a complete 180 of our Christmas Eve. I woke up that morning so excited that it was Christmas! Again, I had to work, but Tyler got up with me and we had a nice morning before I headed out the door. He went back to sleep and then ended up coming up to DRC around 10. Working on a holiday is actually really nice. It is a lot of work, because there were only 3 of us there, but its a pretty easy going day. Tyler got to hang out with us and just enjoy the day, which was beautiful!! It was me, Laura, and Margaret who worked along with 2 of our interns, Jackie and Kristen. We worked really hard in the morning, so that the afternoon could be nice and easy. Laura's family came in and they all got in with Merina and Flagler. I decided to hop in with Tursi and her son Gambit. Tursi is one of our older dolphins, she is 37, and our wiser dolphins. She has taught me so much since starting to work down here. I wasn't quite sure of how she would react, if she would want me in the water or she would make it obvious that she wanted me out. I know it sounds really cheesy and lame but after the night before where I was so down, getting in with Tursi made my day!! She LOVED it! She kept coming by for rubs and wanted to take me on dorsal pulls, and peck pulls. I definitely think she knew I was feeling kind of down and wanted to cheer me up. Here are a few pictures Kristen took for me...
The dolphins have been showing me little things lately just to make me appreciate them so much more. I'm sure they did stuff like this in the past, I just wasn't aware of it, but for example, the other day I was about to do a swim. I bring my people down and were talking, and I see that there is a toy floating in the water. Gypsi, who is one of our 5 year olds and loves toys, was sitting in front of my dock just looking at me. I asked her to go get the toy and bring it to me. She did and when she came back, I snuck her a little fish for helping me out. I thought no other dolphin was around, but then I look over and Aleta is sitting on the other side of the dock just looking at me. I knew she saw the whole thing, so I snuck her a fish too so she wouldn't feel left out. My swimmers laughed and we all kept talking. the next thing I knew, Aleta pops back up at the dock with a mangrove pod for me. She was so sweet. She brought me something to say thanks for the fish....like she knew I wasn't suppose to give her one, but she appreciated it. It was the day after Christmas, so I kept the pod and made it into a Christmas ornament. Now its hanging on our tree at home :)
The dolphins really do have a sense for people and just like our dogs or cats, they can really turn your day around. They are so special to me and even though I really missed my family this year, the dolphins knew that and had their own ways to thank me for hanging out with them on Christmas!
It turned out to be a fabulous Christmas and we really did enjoy it. It will just take some getting used to :) We love and miss all of you guys so much and we are coming home Jan. 20 so we will see you soon!!!
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