A Day of Mourning

Steve Irwin has died

What a sad day it has been here at Casa de Miguel: Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Hunter" has died.

My family and I have been fans of The Crocodile Hunter for years. Our daughters, now almost seven, have been saying "Crikey" and "Isn't she georgous?" and "Beauty, mate" since they could talk. For their third birthday, we surprised them each with 3 foot long stuffed croc plush toys and a life-sized talking cardboard cut-out of Steve himself. It was like Christmas morning, they came down the stairs and the cardboard cutout said "Danger! Danger! Danger!"; the the squealing began in earnest. We even had portraits made of them wearing "safari" outfits, holding their crocodiles.

We spent some time this evening watching some of the Animal Planet coverage / retrospective on Steve and his family. The girls seem to be holding up OK; we'd be talking about the things that Steve and his family have done, then Twin The Youngest will quietly say "...but now he's dead..." doG, it was heartbreaking.

What a life Irwin led. Although it is standard obituary blather to say the deceased died "...doing what he loved to do..." in this case it is absolutely true.

I've been composing this post in my head since 8:00 AM this morning, but now I'm at a loss for words.

Over at Ace of Spades, Jack M. posts some personal reflections on Steve's passing; and Misha sums it up for the rest of us. TheMissus bookmarked far too many links to post; I'll sum up something comprehensive tomorrow.