Goodbye, Winter...

Today did not start well. I bawled like a baby before breakfast. I saw the news I sensed was coming. Winter, the miraculous dolphin in Clearwater, Florida, that swam to fame with her prosthetic tail died last night.

It's just a dolphin, some may say. Well, I guess those people never heard of or read up Winter's story or were never moved by her life even if they heard about her. Winter came to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) in 2005 after she got caught in a crab trap line. The damage to her tail was so great, it had to be amputated. What followed after was story upon story of innovation, resilience, inclusion, love, strength, and hope as caring humans considered and then designed a prosthetic tail for her, a gift which Winter accepted.

Winter's story was told in the movie, The Dolphin Tale. Soon, people from all over came to see this special dolphin who learned to swim with her one-of-a-kind tail. The most special visitors of all were kids and veterans with prosthetics. There are inspirational stories of some of these visitors on the CMA website here: https://www.cmaquarium.org/animals/dolphins/winter/

So, what's with the tears? My family had the opportunity to travel to Clearwater to see Winter during the Christmas holidays in 2014. Visiting the small aquarium ended up being one of the highlights of the trip which included the mighty DisneyWorld. My kids were in awe of the dolphin without a tail, and all her friends at CMA. We bought a small Winter stuffy to bring home with us. My son who loves dolphins, spent a rather long time, just quietly watching Winter swim.

As an English teacher, when the junior novel, Dolphin 2 came out, I had to include it on the reading list for my 4th graders. The kids ooh-ed and aah-ed at the story of the arrival of a new dolphin called Hope and stressed about whether young Hope would accept a strange tail-less dolphin like Winter for a friend. The book became a launching pad for us to talk about disability among other diversity that we can see and not see in our world. My students were thrilled when one of the weekend homework during that novel unit was that they were invited to watch the original movie, Dolphin Tale, to learn of the story of Winter. Of course, we ended the unit with my students creating dioramas to depict scenes from the novel and we also watched the movie, Dolphin Tale 2 together in class.

Still, why the tears? I don't know, really. I get teary-eyed when I see roadkill. To me, when I see a little critter on the road, lifeless, I just know that a family is incomplete that evening and that wounds my heart. Does this make me a snowflake?

Why the tears over Winter, the dolphin? I don't know. Maybe it's my way of honouring another sentient being who communicated in a language of her own, a language not like ours. In spite of her lack of human language, Winter spoke volumes to the people who came from near and far to be with her. Maybe I am feeling much nostalgia about the different batches of 4th graders who read the book in my class and I'm wondering what sort of legacy I left behind with them when I introduced them to Winter. Maybe, as I age, the reality of the cycle of life and the inevitability of goodbyes are more acutely felt than ever before.

I will spend some time on the memorial page the CMA set up for winter: RememberingWinter.com . I just need to visit the page when I'm not scheduled for any meetings.

I hope my legacy is as meaningful as Winter's when it is my turn to say goodbye.