Look Mom, I'm Holding an Alligator!

I love animals! Always have and always will. I'm the grown woman you see at the petting zoo dumping in quarter after quarter to get pellets, fish food and other edible goodies to feed to whatever furry face is willing to come up to me.

With all that said, I was still shocked, nervous and hesitant when fellow Patch Editor Leigh Armstrong sprung the idea of holding an alligator for our weekly Patch Minute video shoots.

With all of the national attention the Alligator Attraction has received this week, I thought it'd be fun to share my personal experience.

In May, we decided to feature the Alligator Attraction at John's Pass in Madiera Beach for their annual John Levique Pirate Days celebration. As soon as I walked through the doors with Leigh Armstrong and fellow Patch Editor Rachel Jolley, they both volunteered me to hold an alligator. Although my jaw dropped, I agreed. (I didn't want to come off as a scaredy cat!)

The officials brought me over to an area with two alligators to choose from. One was small and very wiggly, probably about 10 inches in length. The other, whom I later learned was Twilight, was much larger but very calm. I initially wanted to hold the smaller gater but upon noticing how squirmy he was, I went against my better judgment and agreed to hold Twilight. One of the employees, a girl younger than I, calmly brought over Twilight, demonstrated how to keep his head higher than his tail and then handed him over.

I immediately took a deep breath and just stared at him. I tried to stay calm and as soon as I was seated I told Leigh I was ready. What you don't see on the video is my irregular breathing and crazy expressions moments before Leigh said go. I looked at the camera, said my intro and smiled. I got it in one take and immediately handed Twilight back over. He was very cooperative, calm and definetely not camera shy. Although I experience at least half a dozen emotions in just 15 minutes, it was worth it and I'm glad I was volunteered.

Since then, I've recommended several friends to stop by, hold an alligator and add it to their bucket list.