I'm still in shock over the death of Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin from a stingray barb to the heart. When I got the editing job in San Antonio a few years back and my family was still in Temple trying to sell the house, that separation was tough on all of us. The girls and I would watch Crocodile Hunter on Animal Planet together, so one of the first things I did in San Antonio was go to the Discovery Channel Store in North Star Mall and buy a DVD of the show. I gave it to Calista and Keela when I got home that weekend, and it symbolized a kind of bonding amongst us even though we were separated most of the time. So Irwin's death felt, to me at any rate, like the loss of a close family friend.
This morning when I told Lisa, she felt much the same shock as I did. Our thoughts went out to his wife, and two young children--that loss strikes close to home for us. And, much as we hated to, we broke the news to the girls during breakfast. They would hear about it at school for sure, and we knew it'd be better if they heard it from us in a secure, supportive environment. Keela was nonplussed, but she absorbs things in her own time. Calista, on the other hand, was very broken up about it. She's always worn her emotions on her sleeve. Lisa and I did our best to comfort her, but it still troubled her greatly. I think we're all in something of a daze today--I don't think anyone would've been surprised if a croc had finally gotten him, or maybe one of the venomous snakes he's often handling. But a stingray? Somehow, it seems such a senseless, anticlimactic waste...
Now Playing: Billy Joel 2000 Years-The Millennium Concert
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