Thing

The grey whale in False Creek today! My co-workers and I were pulled out of work this afternoon to go check out this lost whale. How rare and wonderful it was!
At first it was a matter of hurry up and wait. We biked as fast as we could to a point just by the Cambie st. bridge and sat in the grass for a good 10 minutes before witnessing it coming up for air. Once it started moving out into English Bay though, everyone scrambled for their cameras or jumped on our bikes to chase the whale, hoping for another glimpse.
Just past the bridge, my co-worker Dan and I were biking on the seawall and all of a sudden it was there! It was RIGHT THERE! I could see it's back, all barnacle-y and grey and the spouting of water from it's blow hole.
I can't help but sound corny here, but at that moment I felt overwhelmed, humbled yet high and alive all at the same time. And of course, fortunate. So freaking lucky I got to be there and witness this cool thing.

I'm no fan of hockey. I liked how the gold medal game this February brought together all sorts of Canadians, and gave us a sense of absolute unity for a couple hours. Although, in most cases, hockey brings together obnoxious drunk idiots (mostly among males of the 19-30 age range). ...I dunno, it's just not my sport. While everyone (minus me) in my family got to share a sense of unity while watching the game tonight, I got to experience a similar unity during that 30 minutes of all of us silently anticipating a sighting, or waiting for the great big beauty of a whale to say 'hi.'

Photo: Vancouver Sun