I like going to the beach with Mama a lot. I get to run around, and splash in the water. Sometimes I see fishes and sand dollars too. I love the animals in the water. I want to be an ocean astronaut when I’m a big grownup and explore all the water and see all the animals. Mama says that’s not what its called, but I don’t care. I’m going to be an ocean astronaut!

Mama gives me books and pictures of water animals too. She said I only learned to read so I could know more about them. I don’t know if she’s right, but I like them a lot. I like to draw all of the animals in my books and have them all play together. They look so nice together even if they don’t all like each other in real life. My favorite animal is an Electric Eel. Mama even got me an Eel stuffy! I named him Mr. Zaps. Mr. Zaps keeps me safe every night from nightmares and zaps away all the dark bits that want to scare me. 

I’m gonna be a ocean astronaut because I love swimming, and the water, and the animals, and everything about the ocean. In the water I’ll swim deep deep down to see everything. It’s big and colorful underwater with more colors than I think I’ve seen ever. It’s pretty and whimsical and I like it a lot. I swim around some more and see a patch of coral with a bunch of holes in it. I see a Sea Urchcin between rocks, and try to pick it up. 

“Owie!” I exclaim as I drop the Sea Urchin quickly. “You don’t look that spikey, but you hurt a lot Mr. Sea Urchin. Maybe I could find you a cozy sweater so other people could hug you without getting poked. I’m sure you’re lonely without a bunch of hugs,” I lament.

I look around the coral more, and see a group of Sea Anemonies. They look so fluffy, I wish I could bring Mama back one. But they’d get all dried up and not be happy if I did that, and I want them to be happy too. I see a little fishy swimming in between the coral. Its a pretty Angel Fish. It’s swimming back to its family further away. They’re such a happy family, they’re so pretty together. They swim away in a flash and leave behind pretty bubbles and under currents. 

As I explore more of the ocean, I see more and more and more cool things. I saw a pretty Lemon Shark with yellowy-gray skin, and he let me pet him and everything. And I saw smooth blue Jellyfish, but I didn’t touch them because Mama would get mad at me if I did. I found a spooky cave too, and when I went to look at it, a red Octopus jumped out at me. 

“Ahhh! Why did you do that Mrs. Octopus?” I say with tears in my eyes. 

Mrs. Octopus looks ashamed as she pulls back all her tentacles from me. 

“It’s okay Mrs. Octopus, you just scared me is all.”

Mrs. Octopus looks happy before swimming back into her cave. With Mrs. Octopus gone, it’s very lonely. I didn’t realize how deep it is because I was following the fishies, and I didn’t notice how dark it was because I wasn’t by myself. But the dark is scary, and I don’t have Mr. Zaps with me to scare it way. And its all around me. I start to cry as I frantically try to swim upward. I’m almost to the top, its not so dark now. But before I could get out, a voice interrupts my thoughts. 

“Darling, you’ve been sat there for over an hour, and you look frightened. Are you alright?” Mama asks as she crouches beside me. 

“I’m okay Mama it’s just really dark when you swim real deep and I didn’t like it. It was scary,” I confess. 

“Oh, well it’s just a drawing darling. There’s nothing here that’s going to hurt you. Not even the scary darkness,” Mama comforts.

“Alright Mama… Can we go play Sharks?” I perk up as I think of my favorite game.

“Of course baby. Just put away your drawing and crayons before we go,” she tells me.

“Uh-huh,” I reply with a smile as I race to put away my crayons. 

I look at my drawing, its very pretty with all the coral and fishes and Mr. Sea Urchin, and Blue Jellies, and the Lemon Shark, and Mrs. Octopus. I smile with glee at the thought of seeing them for real. That will have to wait though, I have to go play Sharks with Mama, I think as I set the drawing down on the table before trotting off to find her.