I had the good fortune of being in Maui over Spring Break. We went hiking in a lush rainforest valley during a tropical storm. A little rain bothers no one in Hawaii. Then the rain came down pretty hard, and we had had enough. As we were rushing to get back to our car, a HUGE snail was slowly crossing our walking path. We had never seen snails this big before. We quickly gathered around it to give it a good stare. And that’s when my mind wondered off…and I was presented with visions of one of my favorite appetizers, no, not the usual six little ones, my vision was of a big fat naked snail completely submerged in a bowl of butter, garlic, and herb mixture…

I snapped out of it, when someone said to take a picture. I marveled how sometimes my mind can just leave me, and come up with something so gross by itself.

After a lasting memory of this snail is captured with the help of my camera, we made it to our car. As I shut the car door and proceeded to dry off with a beach towel, I heard a squeal of an almost muted scream…I looked up, and saw that the snail is inside of our car! Grandpa Mark had the snail by its shell in his hand, and started to introduce it as a great pet for my kids. The kids laughed, but were unimpressed with its prospect as a pet.

I was relieved when the snail was escorted out of our car. Just imagine… a snail for a pet, what if my mind escaped me again, and I ate the kids’ new pet! That would be awful.

The biggest snail ever!