On Why I Love Manatees

Friends,
If you didn't know I spent my childhood adorned in manatee regalia to befit a Floridian queen. OR I was just a dorky middle schooler. I had been thinking of manatees lately for a few reasons. I was watching House Hunters in the Florida Keys and the family had a canal in their backyard that housed a MANATEE! It kind of made my heart skip a beat! How exciting!
You may wonder why I would like an animal like a manatee. Well, I'll have you know sailors used to think they were mermaids. Which means they have a magic about them, the noble sea cow. In actuality I cannot tell you why I had such a love of manatees. But I do. Another reason I have been contemplating my sea cow friends is because Nick and I were watching the make a wish show on ESPN where children with fatal diseases were meeting their fav. sports stars. I asked Nick if he ever had to make a wish as a child, what would he do? Play with the red sox of course. I said I would have liked to swim with manatees. Nick laughed for a solid two minutes. This is extra embarrassing because Nick does not often laugh out loud.
I would like to admit to some of the manatee regalia that I once had:

• Several Manatee T-Shirts
• A Manatee License Plate
• A Manatee Poster
• Manatee Children's Book
• An actual Manatee (adopted of course!)
• About five manatee stuffed animals of assorted sizes
• Manatee Magnet (Gracing our fridge at our current location)
• Wildlife fact file on manatees
• A manatee HAT (Eww)
• Manatee keychains (note this is plural)
• A manatee collage made for me by my parents Floridian midshipman
• Several manatee knick knacks
  
• One of these:

So you see, I loved manatees and secretly still do. I feel for them when they get hit by boats. I just plain like manatees.
Love, Kaley