A Tribute to Steve Irwin…
I woke up this morning to the news… the Crocodile Hunter has been killed. I don’t know about you, but as for me and my house, we truly loved Steve. We’ve owned the movies, we’ve watched the shows, and one of my boys has had a Croc Hunter birthday party. He always made me think of the many years ago when Jaime and I ran around Kenya in clothes just like that! Little khaki shorts and shirts that we bought from our good friend, Mr. Oni Mullah! But, we never looked that sporty!
I was thinking jealously this morning of Steve and conversely the weiner TV crew my gen grew up with: Mr. Rogers? Captain Kangeroo? Henrietta Hippo? Sigmund the Sea Monster? H.R. PUFFINSTUFF!!! It just seems that my kids have been blessed by being weaned on someone so refreshingly happy and, yes I’ll say it, real. I was thinking it’s kinda interesting that Captain Kangeroo didn’t care all that much about animals, but then the Crocodile Hunter didn’t really “hunt” crocs either.
Yep, I believe that Steve was real. He was really engaged and really in love with his family and his career and his zoo. You wouldn’t love having your own zoo! Come on! I recall watching cable in our college yearss, maybe around 1994, and seeing Steve for the first time. He thinks he spots a snake or a lizard or somthing, so he leaps from his still rolling truck, stumbles into a sprint, tries unsuccesfully to leap the great Dingo fence, and comes up with nothing but dust… nothing but dust and a huge grin.
Steve will always be real… we have lived among giants.
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