Look What I Found!

At noon today, I was certain that this blog entry would be the first in which I recounted an absolutely dreadful day. I showed up to Penrose at 8:30, and, with slight exaggeration, by 8:37 my hands were frozen. I spent the morning searching the shore for sea critters to use in touch tanks, waiting for kids to show up, and standing in the bitter cold rain. We had one curious five year old with her dad, and one class came over for several seconds, but by lunchtime we decided to pack up early. As I was nursing my hands back to functioning health and talking with the Park Aid in the break room, she saw a school bus go by, headed for the Day-use. There went my plans of leaving early. I went back down to the beach, introduced myself to the teachers, and asked if I could hang out for the afternoon. Little did I know that 70 third graders and their parents would turn my day around for the better.

We went on a hike through the woods where I found a great snag/nurse log combo and talked with groups going by about the purpose of dead trees. The kids were perceptive and receptive. I joined the last group that came by and we held up the rear, talking about the plants and trees. Surprisingly, I was able to answer all of their (numerous) questions about identification! We then got out to the beach where immediately I heard a kid hollering about a sun star. The beach walk proved much better than the touch tanks would have been, and I was able to let everyone touch him/her (with wet hands!) and see the tube feet and count the legs (18). Right after, I hear a holler about a moon snail, and we pick it up and talk about its mucus and shell and, pretending to be a raccoon, I even showed them how it can fit its whole body into its shell when it thinks its getting eaten. We learned how to be good visitors while at the same time finding moon snails, moon snail egg collars, more sea stars, live sand dollars, shore crabs, red rock crabs, barnacles, muscles, oysters, clams of many types, sand worms, burrowing piddocks, snails, limpets, bull kelp, sea lettuce, snail eggs, shrimp, a bald eagle, sculpins, and lots of muck. The kids were super, calling me over to learn about what they had found and remembering to be careful with the critters on the beach.

This is a long entry because this is a simple example of how a young and curious mind can be all the difference. Its amazing how something that originally seems yucky (ex. A huge Moon Snail) can suddenly become wonderful and important when it can be found, watched, and touched in its own habitat. I was walking with two girls through a sand dollar bed when one of them reflected assuredly about the day, “I think, I think I will remember this forever.”

So will I.