To tell you the truth, I never thought I’d be on my way to becoming an entomologist during my pre-college career. I remember watching "CSI" at a young age and making fun of the head investigator who had a thing for bugs. The fascination seemed so foreign to me, I couldn’t imagine how someone could make a career of looking at these multi-legged, sometimes winged creatures. Now I get up in the morning, brush my teeth and look in the mirror. I think of how I used to be and wonder how I got to where I am now.
Working at the Museum of Natural History this summer with other bug people, with favorites ranging from the moths and butterflies to the arachnids, has been a wonderful experience. I feel so very much at home in the entomology department and I have learned so much in my time here. You wouldn't believe how intricate the body is of a spider smaller than the head of a pin and I've handled thousands of them. If there were any downsides to list, I can only think that I did not handle any living specimens. That's for the best, according to my mother, who worries that one day I would come home and bring some of my work with me.
As this summer comes to a close, I am quite grateful in giving the following announcement: I've been told that I am welcome back the next summer. Hearing that from my boss put the biggest smile on my face, and now I can continue to develop my skills at identification and perhaps collecting specimens out in the field in the future. In the many elevator rides that I took to get around the building, one day I happened upon a man that was very eager to introduce himself to me. It was quite obvious that I was an intern, he told me, and asked what department I was working in. After our introductions, he told me that he himself started out as a volunteer in the Smithsonian program, but he was now the head of one of the departments in the building. That chance conversation has given me so much hope for my future and I'd like to thank all of my friends and family for the support they have provided in what I thought was a fledgling, meaningless, and weird interest.
I'm a bug guy and I can't wait to be a better bug guy.
