He had shown his appreciation the night before……….after a song sung from the terrace, overlooking the Sea of Cortez………as if on cue………while the breeze blew quietly and the waves washed ashore………..I finished singing my love song to Fernando and had paused to drink in the blackness of the night air………….and there………a joyful and unexpected sound from the water’s edge, below…….A HAPPY BARKING SEAL!!!!
So, for two hours……………………… in the early morning hours……… I sat on a rock…..guitar in hand……..singing to the sea……practicing new Latin rhythms…….and as I played my music, the seal danced and rolled in the water in front of me, catching fish and fighting the birds for his breakfast. He especially liked the ones that I would sing and barked……….on cue, again, ……….right at the end of the song……
Someone said to me, after the morning had passed and I was reliving and giggling in the experience……..that the seal could have been telling me to hush(not quite the words they suggested)! ….. But, I figure that since I don’t speak seal…………… and he hung around the entire time and the barks had a very encouraging and happy tone………..Well, I may as well take it as the playful pat on the back that I felt it was…….
Of course, my mother always told me that unless someone says to your face that they don’t like you…………asume everyone loves you!!!! If you do that, life works out much nicer………..better than assuming the opposite! That SEAL never once told me that he wasn’t just as happy as can be with our little exchange!