Bambi The Sand-Crab Hunter

I'm standing on the Seal Beach Pier, looking down at the waves as they wash up. Suddenly I see a man bolt out into the receding surf in his running shoes. He scoops up a huge pile of sand with his hands, and runs back up the beach before another swell comes. Then he throws the sand on the ground while him, his daughter, and his little pink-collared pug sift through it. Naturally I'm curious, so I ask why.

"Our dog loves to hunt sand crabs," says the older man in the soaked shoes.

"Her name is Bambi," says the young girl.

"But I call her Bammers," retorts her father. He runs back into the surf when he spots the crabs as they burrow into the sand. Then he tosses the pile in front of his dog and him and his daughter watch as Bambi jams his nose into the beach and digs ravenously, stalking the little crabs. When she finds one, she gulps it down and waits for another one.

"Bammers loves seafood," the dad tells me as him and his daughter laugh hysterically at the dog's antics.

I love watching people find joy in little things like Bambi on the prowl.