A Cat and Whales

It's time for me to write about my very emotional day, June 24th. I was on a wonderful trip to Alaska with my mom. We got a call first thing in the morning from my husband to tell me that he was taking my cat of 19 years, Teddy, into the vet that afternoon and it "didn't look good." Yes, I knew at that point that it was Ted's last day on this earth. Teddy had been failing for quite awhile, and I knew the day was soon coming... but still, it's hard to say good bye to a pet who has travelled with you for so long, especially when that "good bye" is from a distance.

That afternoon, with Teddy still on my mind, my mom and I went on a trip that we'd booked days before... a whale-watching trip going out from Juneau. I've been on whale-watching trips before, and know that if you spot one whale from a distance, it's a good day. I think both mom and I were regretting having booked this 5+ hour trip... but off we went.

Once on the boat, we realized it would be a good afternoon... even if we didn't spot any whales. A beautiful day (rare in this part of the world), spectacular scenery. But then, only a few minutes out of port, we saw a mother whale with a baby... and the baby was playing. We watched for about a 1/2 hour, then due to regulations about how long you can watch one whale, we were off again.

We soon came upon something that the naturalist on board (one who had been doing this many years) said she's only seen 3 times in her life... it was about a dozen whales doing "bubble net feeding." One whale goes down deep, swimming in a circle, blowing bubbles. The bubbles create a functional "net" that the fish up above don't like to swim past, and so they fish are trapped. One of the whales is giving a call (we heard it from a below the surface microphone on board the ship) and when the call stops, the bubbles stop, and all the whales rush to the surface with their mouths open to catch the fish that have been trapped in this "bubble net."

Watching 12 whales, each the size of a bus, rushing to the surface in a choreographed movement was... stunning. In every sense of the word. We watched this for the full 1/2 hour, and by the end I felt somewhat numb. The beauty around us, the grace and power of the whales, the awesomeness of a God who created all this, was overwhelming.

And... I knew, when those whales were dancing, that it was about the time that Marshal was at the vet. I somehow felt that this dance was a great send-off for one small, but much loved, cat. Also created by God, and used by God on a regular basis for 19 years, to remind me of His love.