ONCE UPON A Saturday

SULOCHANA SANTHOSH is a young and inspired writer who reminds us of the need to care for our ocean and the environment in general. What are you doing to make a difference?

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Saturdays are days meant for sleeping in. Lazing around. Days where you eat your favorite breakfast in bed (hopefully), not days where you wake up at 5 a.m. and participate in a beach clean-up.

Hi! I'm River and I'm 12 years old. My family runs Save the Seas Campaign. Boring! I know! And yes, my name is actually River. My older sister's name is even worse (according to me). It's Ocean. The strange thing is, she actually likes her name. No, she's not a weirdo, she's a people-pleaser. Lately, she's been obsessed with saving the seas and whatnot. My parents were so excited when she announced she was going to help them with their campaign this year that they decided this Saturday beach clean-up would be a celebration to welcome her into the campaign.

Anyway, fast forward to “B-day” (Get it? Beach-day, never mind). It was a tug-of-war from the get-go. I absolutely refused to get up, and my parents left Ocean, their commander-in-chief, to wage this battle. All I can say is that it was 5 a.m., and she should have expected she wouldn't win. Once I was finally up, our parents made us walk to the beach as a good warm up. Can you believe it?