Sea Monkeys!

Last night I was pondering instances from childhood. Strange little memories..most of them chopped up, confused. Little snippets of the past that we all try so desperately to hold on to, the roses among the rocks.
And then..I remembered..

Sea Monkeys!

Ok..we all know what sea monkeys are. They have a little plastic container...you fill that bad boy up with water...and then you dump the "Sea monkey" packet in. After a bit..you see all the monkeys swimming around..

However..they are not monkeys. They are little brine shrimp..and they aren't that exciting at all.
But I remember. I was around 4 or 5...and my older cousin was there. We had gone to the store with my mom...and somehow we had talked her into buying these little guys for us.

When we got home...I ran inside....ripped the package out of the shopping bag....and gazed in awe. I remember the sheer excitement I felt.

Sea Monkeys.

On the package...there were sea monkeys everywhere. A whole village. And they were playing with a beach ball...and building sand castles. Sea Monkey parents were playing with their Sea Monkey children...and they were all having an awesome time.

And these Sea Monkeys were *mine* I was going to have an army of Sea Monkeys. I was going to be the best Sea Monkey keeper in the universe. I would be like a god to them. But a kind god, of course...who loved all of her Sea Monkey Children.

Opening the package...I find a little booklet on how to take care of them...(for such complex creatures...they didn't need much...) and inside the booklet...you could order them toys. Little Sea Monkey beach balls called sea gems....a castle for them to live in..

I was thrilled.
Water in the tank. Mix all of the crap together...
I waited with baited breath.

The next morning...I ran out to the living room. My minions were alive!! But they didn't look like the Sea Monkeys on the package. They were tiny specks...swimming around rather aimlessly. I figured that they were newly born...and it would take them at least a day to reach their full Sea Monkey potential.

They never did.
They stayed small. Aimless. They gave a shit less about their castle. They gave a shit less about everything. They certainly were not building sand castles..or playing with beach balls..they were...
Brine shrimp.

I'm sure if you think on it for a minute...you can come up with about 10 different analogies for this story. Thinking that something is so fantastic...only to be crushed by the hard truth...life's lessons....

And I wish I could say that it was my point.
But in actuality..there was no point.
Just a hopeful little girl.
And her brine shrimp.