Yesterday, my husband and I visited the Flint RiverQuarium in Albany, Ga., to see Moonshine, the albino alligator we named eight years ago.
We won the aquarium’s baby gator naming contest in 2013. Until this week, we hadn’t been back to this aquarium located on the banks of the Flint River. While we were away, we added more wrinkles and Moonshine matured into a full-grown alligator. Naturally, we couldn’t resist removing our KN95 masks for a second to take a selfie in front of his larger enclosure.
Seeing the moniker we suggested – printed on tee shirts and the gator’s enclosure and featured on the aquarium’s website and social media – made us giddy. We acted like exuberant youngsters when we told aquarium employees that we were the couple who named their celebrity gator.
We allowed ourselves to bask in the glow of a rare alligator named Moonshine. For a brief moment, we forgot about the pandemic and a year of uncertainty and loss. We reveled in the experience. As we now bid farewell to 2021, I want to wish each of you a very Happy New Year. May your 2022 be filled with many moments of unbridled joy.