Doesn't everyone have one of these photos?
Some facts:
- Lion: de-clawed
- Lion: de-toothed
- Lion: very large
- Lion: very alive
- Lion: very sleepy
- Girl: Tootsie, and very much wanted to keep the lion
- Lion: at first attempted to sit on Tootsie
- Lion: would have crushed her
- Girl's Mother: had second thoughts about having her daughter's picture taken with an exotic creature when the lion tried to sit on said daughter.
- Girl's Mother: figured, eh, what the heck.
22 comments:
Uh...Oh my god.
Didja stop at the alligator farm on the way home?
That is horrifying. What the hell were our parents thinking in the '70s? I don't have evidence this impressive, but my parents clearly demonstrated similarly poor judgment in terms of their offspring's physical safety. It's a wonder any of us survived.
Ok, here's the thing though...you now always have a benchmark to compare yourself to. So, if you ever find yourself doing something kind of dumb, you can say to yourself, "well at least I didn't let my child get almost crushed to death by a wild but drugged up lion."
yes! we have a pic of my husband as a baby sitting next to a lion too! I have no idea why his parents and/or the zoo thought that was a good idea. the scary thing is that his parents still seem to think it wasn't a big deal. ack! note to us: they're not babysitting.
Oh my holy hell. I don't know what's more disturbing -- you as a small child with a lion or just how drugged out that lion was.
You probably didn't wear a helmet when you rode a bicycle either. Amazing any of us survived!
Clearly a photoshop job. The lion's mommy was all "I need some kind of outrageous memento. I know. I'll make it look like I let a kid crawl all over my offspring. A kid!! The other lion's will be all "How could you be so irresponsible? Don't you know that kids pull fur? Drool? Have sticky fingers?" and I'll be all "Ha ha! It's not even a real kid. Suckers. Other lions are dumb."
Fearless Tootsie.
Oh Tootsie .. I love it .. I wish that I could still get pictures like that of my daughter!
My mother was in the circus when she was younger, and still had lots of friends and her ex husbands family out there that we would go out to visit, and well, unusual pets weren't .. usual :)
I was going into second grade the SECOND time I got bitten by the neighbor's lion. I can hear my grandfathers last words as we were leaving the farm (And keep her away from the god damn lion!) and I can still see the look on my grandmothers face as my mom was pulling on me, and the owner was pulling on the lion's collar.
We were just going over to say hi, and have my picture taken, samson was chained to a tree in the backyard, his toy(that empty 5 gallon bucket, full of teeth marks?!) (I KNOW!) and you could see his pace line. I was a good 8-10 feet outside the pace line, and from my moms angle, it looked like I was standing right next to him. She turned away to get in position to take the picture when he lunged and dragged me under him.
Traumatized? nope. not me. I do believe the question I asked after I had gotten cleaned up was whether or not the teeth marks would still be there for show and tell next week.
I hate when I fail to fully read what I've posted.
Unusual pets weren't UNUSUAL.
oye.
My mom's neurotic tendencies would have prevented such a photo. That being said, I have very fond memories of lying in the back of the car on top of the seat and the glass gazing at the stars on long trips to visit family. That was the day before seat belts and car seats!
I'm sure mine is with the exact same lion as yours since I lived in Santa Monica at the time.
Lion Country Safari alumni united.
@ Backpacking Dad ~ It's real. This was taken at Magic Mountain way back when. Mr. Farklepants scanned it and did clean it up because the original is dark and scratched and a mess.
It's one of my favorite pics from my childhood...even though that lion clearly could have broken my neck with one swipe of his paw. :)
no frickin way are you gonna post that picture without an explanation.
I simply will not allow it.
Where were you???????????????? Tell me or I am calling the CPS on your mom now.
I know it's real; I was just joking :}
thank you for finally providing something to threaten my children with when they are bad.
just one look at this and they'll be all "whatever you would like me to do, mother!"
Unbelievable. I was so sure you were going to write that you were a child actor in another life, and this was while shooting a Coppertone commercial. You mean normal kids got to do this?
I do remember those days, our thing was standing up on the back seat of our friends fathers car and whoever was the last to fall on the floor would win. I was never allowed near a lion though...
Are you SURE that lion wasn't dead?
We went horseback riding in the late 70's and the horse LAID DOWN. Just stopped. Decided it was tired and LAID DOWN. My poor friend jumped off before it crushed her little 6 year old legs.
Yeah... that's one of those you think back on and say, "bad idea, but great picture." Now, it's good blog fodder.
That is insane. Seriously. I'm glad it didn't sit on you! Or gum you to death.
LOL @ Backpacking Dad's comment.
I'm with sometimes serendipitous - Are you sure the lion wasn't dead, but then I read where you said the lion almost sat on you first and I was all, Holy Crap, maybe he was just trying to find a place to die. Cause that lion is wasted! Also - Wonderful picture.
Post a Comment