Today is Shark Awareness Day and I don't mind being aware of sharks, from a safe distance, with them in the water and me in a boat. You can add swimming with sharks to my list of things I never, ever want to do. I did have a close encounter with a shark once many years ago and I lived to tell about it, so I will. We were living in Ohio at the time, and friends from Fort Wayne had come for a summer visit. They had two sons ages 7 and 9, and we had a son and daughter, ages 9 and 7. We decided one hot day to take them to a nearby lake to swim and picnic. Before we left for the lake, their youngest wondered out loud if there were sharks in the lake. He was a good swimmer but used to swimming in a pool. We all assured him that there are no sharks in Ohio lakes, or any lakes for that matter, and he seemed satisfied. As soon as we got to the lake the four children ran for the water and waded in. We parents watched from the beach. We were responsible parents, after all. Suddenly we heard loud shouts (more gleeful than panicked) and all four of them came running to us to show us, you guessed it, a gray shark that they had plucked out of the water. No idea who had left it behind, but that foot long plastic shark proved once and for all that parents are not always right. Too bad, I had hoped to fool them for at least a few more years.
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