Two Elephants

Walking to the park, I noticed that Elena took her stuffed pink baby elephant to the side of the street and set her on a rock for a minute.  Afterwards, she whispered to me by way of explanation, "She had to go pee."

So when we got home, I shared this breathtaking video to show them an elephant in the wild.

Lorraine and her daughter Jessica recently returned from a trip to South Africa.  This video is shared on YouTube by Jessica: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAYnKxKYCrs&feature=em-share_video_user

If you are Lorraine's friend, you will hold your breath as you watch it--because the huge elephant is literally touching the jeep in which they are riding.  If the elephant had been a dog, say, you could have reached out and petted it. Jan and I found it terrifying.

If you are an adult, you can literally feel yourself in that jeep, knowing the power of live elephants in the wild, your heart beating fast as the elephant approaches humans in a jeep and stays there for a while, close enough for its trunk to touch Lorraine. (Lorraine later told me that the elephant could have turned the jeep right over, no problem.)  At the end of the video, you can hear the African driver say, "Holy shit!"

If you are Elena and Makken, even if you know Lorraine, you watch it without being particularly impressed.  Elephants are big, okay, but you mostly know them from the zoo or stuffed with cotton and dyed pink. Stuffed animals have to pee like all real animals, and you are not afraid of animals.

If a stuffed pink elephant can pee on Ogden Lane, a real elephant (who knows?) can be one more potential friend and how lucky to have one walk right up to your jeep!