I walked through the enormous gates that stood at what seemed to be 100 feet tall. The big blue sign welcomed my family and me to SeaWorld: Where the voyage begins. My puny feet found themselves stomping in every splishy-sploshy puddle they were drawn too. Katy, my little sister, and I danced through the park as our light blonde hair whipped violently back and forth as we saw new and exciting things. I wasn’t aware at the time, that I would get an opportunity to get out of my dinky seven year old comfort zone and be bold in front of a coliseum of people, and a walrus.

As we stret through the park, we came upon a curious sign that read “Walrus”. Passing the sign, a lanky lady under a blue baseball cap walked towards us as she scribbled on a clipboard. Upon approaching, she looked up with a smile and spok to my mom in a peppy voice, “ Hi! How old is your daughter?” My mom, very surprised, answered slowly, “Jenna is seven, why do you ask?” The girl lit up with excitement. “Would she like to be in our walrus show?” My mom was worried. I hadn’t met an animal as majestic as a walrus in my life. Would I be petrified? There was no way to know. “I’m okay with that but I am not sure if she will be afraid of the walrus,” my mother pondered aloud, looking at me. The tall lady knelt down so I could look into her crystal blue eyes. With a radiant smile on her face, she questioned, “Would you like to dance with a walrus?” I stared, dumbfounded into her eyes, trying to decipher if she was kidding me or not. After a moment of pondering the difficult question, I looked to my older sister, Chelsea whose jaw had dropped to the floor. “Chelsea? What do I do?” I questioned frantically. “Go for It! Do it! You will probably never get to do this again!” she said, clearly stating her thoughts on the subject. I agreed, with a smile, to meet the walrus.

I stood at the side of the massive coliseum platform, scanning the people who were waiting to see the show. My heart found itself in my throat as the speaker began to announce the agenda for the production. “Please, welcome Jenna! She gets to meet one of our walruses!” the announcer bellowed into the microphone. I walked timidly out onto the platform and stood by the announcer. As I faced the audience, I had to be careful not to slip into the ginormous pool of water directly behind me. The announcer turned to me and whispered, “You ready?” I nodded, acting like I was confident when really I wanted to run away. The lady reached for the whistle around her neck and gave it a loud blow. My breath escaped me when I saw this majestic creature leap out of the water and onto the platform on which I stood. The walrus’ tusks were the size of large carrots and its skin was like a milk chocolate milkshake. A few steps led me to this creature of great size. The trainer walked out on the stage moments after I was standing in front of the walrus. He held his hand out to the conscious thing as the walrus put his hand in the trainors. The trainor gestured to me to take the beast’s hand in mine. I found myself not able to move, I was frozen. After many reassuring words from the trainer I shyly and slowly, put my hand out and touched the walrus’ hand. The walrus was wet, but felt dry. His skin felt of used sandpaper, funny on my fingertips. His whiskers were shaped in the shape of a mustache, and had little water droplets on the tips. A smile crept across my face as he appeared to be smirking at me. The trainer instructed me to put my other arm on what seemed to be the walrus’ shoulder and move my hips as if I were dancing in a grand ballroom. I did so, and after a few moments, I realized I had had my first slow dance. I smiled and danced confidently as the walrus seemed to be enjoying himself as much as I was. When my waltz was over,  the trainer presented me with a purple flower lei. After high-fiving my new friend, the walrus, I went to my mom who had seen the whole thing. We got to watch the walrus do many more amazing tricks like honking horns and kicking basket balls.

This experience not only gave me a memory to keep forever, but also taught me to be brave and to step out of my comfort zone. I learned that you can enjoy life to the fullest if you are willing to take risks and step out into the open. I’m very glad that I learned this life changing lesson at a young age, because now, I enjoy trying new things! I’m not telling you to go out and complete your bucket list this weekend, but if you are given an opportunity to try something new, why not take it? You could discover something new about yourself!