The other day I was sitting in one of my classes, that has the chairs arranged in a big circle without desks, and I looked across the circle and a beautiful blue National Aquarium sweatshirt caught my attention. I had recently spoken to the girl wearing it. She reminded me of a girl that was in one of my classes years ago. Not only does she look similar, she also has similar mannerisms and speech patterns. I had asked her during our previous class if she had an older sister. She said, “no”, and she added, “I am from Peru.” I smiled at her and told her she reminded me of a former student.
Her sweatshirt brought back to me fond memories of my family’s numerous visits to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland. It is located about an hours drive from our home. We had been members at one point in time since we went about twice a year when my daughter was younger.
I had purchased a few souvenirs over the years since their gift shops are very nice and help to support the aquarium. Here is one of my favorite purchases which I still wear to this day. It is one of my favorite work-around-the house shirts. At the time of purchase I had recently completed the whole series of Harry Potter books written by J.K. Rowling, and therefore I felt as if I needed to purchase this Hairy Otter shirt. It makes me laugh.
One of my favorite attractions at the National Aquarium was the Dolphin Show. The dolphin picture posted above is from a visit during the year 2010. Here is another picture from the same visit.
I believe they did away with the show venue in 2011. Today in 2024 they still have dolphins, but the experience has evolved into something other than a show like above. I read that their hope is to return all the dolphins to the sea by 2026..
Seeing the student’s blue sweatshirt has inspired me to make plans for us to go and revisit the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It has been too long since our last visit. I hope we can see the dolphins again before the year 2026.
movingforwardslowly 