Pun Inspiration: Otters
Let me tell you the tail of my longest lasting, obsessive love.
I think I was six years old when I learned that otters existed. My class was learning how to use our elementary school library and were tasked with checking out a non-fiction book. A die-hard fantasy fan from my beginnings, I couldn’t kelp but be dismayed with the assignment. In fact, I was preemptively bored at the idea of reading non-fiction. Fortunately, my librarian (shout out to Ms. Friedman) knew exactly how to capture the attention of a little urchin like me. She fished out a book from the shelves and changed my life furever.
The book she selected was one about sea otters. And it rocked my world.
I was completely smitten from that first book. I fell victim to the claws of attraction, captured by the pawsitively undeniable levels of cuteness. Those fluffy faces, the babies lying on mom’s belly, holding hands with each other while sleeping? Is it any wonder these creatures held the keystone to my heart? My love was a diving force and I wanted to know more. I continued to hunt for more books on otters, soaking up as many facts about them as I could. When I was nine, I even watched a (fairly dry) documentary on otters that my mom had recorded off TV for me. In addition to their cuteness, they were a charming mix of playful and resourceful, finding ways to get to their food when it’s pretty clam hard.
I was otter-ly obsessed.
From that point on, everything was otters for me. Clothing, toys, birthday cards, calendars, school supplies, magnets, decorations – you name it, I probably have an otter version of it. My childhood worksheets and sketchpads were littered with doodles of them. And as an artsy kid, my creative efforts inevitably became arts and rafts sessions. I just couldn’t cl-oyster my love away.
Even as an adult, I’ve made no effort to pouch my love. My office was as covered as my elementary school worksheets; I mussel-ed in as many otter items as I
reasonably could. I had a notepad for “Things I Otter Do,” a dispenser for things I otter tape, a background on my computer of the otter-ly adorable characters from Pixar’s Finding Dory, a calendar of dates I otter remember, and a Play Mobil toy set that my officemate decided she otter gift to me for Christmas and which I proudly displayed.
Alaska you, given the tool-tally obvious devotion, do you think you can find an otter video or meme I haven’t seen?
When I was eight, I painted a watercolor of a sea otter and was delighted when my father floated the idea that his company could use it as the program cover for their conference that year. He thought it would be appropriate given that the conference was held in Monterey, California – a hot spot for otters. I felt like I was famous, convinced I’d be swimming in fan mail afterwards.
Upon his return, my dad described the myriad sea otters he saw in the Bay every day of his trip and I was enchanted. Despite the non-fiction origins of my otter love, this sounded like a fantasy land and all I wanted was to be whiskered away to Monterey. The city became a magical place in my mind: The Land of the Sea Otters.
From that day on, I padded out my bucket list. The list has webbed and flowed over the years as I added and completed various items. But this one remained at the top, sadly unchecked for 21 years:
“See a sea otter in the wild.”
But I think I otter wait to tell that punny story…
Pun Count: 30
In an I-Deeley World 
2 thoughts on “Otter-ly Obsessed”