When I was a kid growing up in Los Altos, California, I dug holes in my front yard looking for a lost civilization or a new dinosaur. My friends’ mothers wouldn’t let them play with me after school because they came home with their pockets full of dirt. I went on to major in anthropology at UC Berkeley and joined real archaeological and paleo excavations. My childhood dreams came true when I was sent on assignment by National Geographic to travel to dig sites with archaeologists to help them reconstruct life in the ancient world.
-----
It's always interesting to see how different folks wind up in their chosen professions. For my part I had no childhood interest in dinosaurs, none when I brought two of my friend's hatchlings to see Jurassic Park, and none until several years ago when flipping through channels I saw a few minutes of a re-run miniseries called, well, Dinotopia...
ReplyDeleteI used to dig up big dirt clods in the vacant lot down the street so I could shape horse heads with a stick. I grew up to be an equine sculptor. I think the "gene" to create or drift in a certain direction in life begins very early.
ReplyDeleteJames, is it you in this picture ?
ReplyDelete