Waters on Driftwood

“I am asked sometimes, how did you get to be a biologist? How did you get to be a scientist? How did you get to be an explorer? And I say, it’s really easy. You start out as a little kid, and then you never grow up.” -Sylvia Earle. This is my short story about growing up on driftwood drive, and how swimming and exploring my own ecosystem kept me a kid forever.

I don’t know if my life is full of coincidences or if the universe has given me a way to find a holistic approach to pursuing my passions. I was lucky enough to grow up only an hour or so away from a good beach. We would visit the beach no matter what time of the year. Some of my favorite memories are on a gray, wet, windy & cold New England beach. 

My siblings and I share many traits, but I think curiosity was key in helping us excel in our personal interests. This is childish notion something that bonds us at the best of times when outdoors. Growing up a Waters, on a street called Driftwood I never thought twice about the little things that built the outer casing of my interests. It seems as though the universe poked and prodded me with blatant messages like my last name and my street name.

I shared a bedroom with my sister for most of my childhood it was above the kitchen and right next to the stairs. We had two windows, one overlooking the pool in the backyard and the other to the side of the house. My dream was (still is) to build a waterslide from my bedroom to the pool area. I would wake up in the summer time and see the warm golden glow of the sun filter through the trees. I would look out at the pool area stoked for another day outside.

My dad and I opened the pool every spring. We would compete to see who could get in the pool first as a kind of unofficial game and signal to start summer. The water was where we bonded. We would be in there all day from when sun would rise to the darkness to watch stars and moon. At night bats would visit to eat the mosquitoes buzzing around our heads, we named them Luna who always flew in front of the moons light, splash who preferred bugs from the waters surface and spike the one who flew too close to your head. I loved those bats, and they never made me feel unsafe from swimming at night.

But do you ever remember those random fears like there would just be a shark in your pool? Yeah I had that a few times and my child brain couldn’t shake the image of a shark half the size of my pool coming to get me. It made me a faster swimmer hey! I quickly got over that, but I always had a chill on the back of my neck in the ocean.

I had an extremely superficial fear of the ocean. I wasn’t afraid of any specific entity just the idea of the unknown. What was behind that next wave, what’s hiding in the sand beneath my feet? My confidence in swimming helped me overcome that fear and turn it into a quest. Instead of being afraid of asking what’s behind that next wave, I strapped on my mask and snorkel and I went to go find out for myself. I picked up every floating piece of sargassum with cupped hands to investigate who could be hiding within its tendrils. I turned fear into investigation and curiosity. As they say, ignorance leads to fear. I believe knowledge and understanding leads to love. Who do you know that F*king loves algae? ME. Thats who.

This confidence took time, was built on land and perfected at the seas edge. I used to do laps around my house barefoot, sometimes with my eyes closed to use my other senses. Along the route I was overturning rocks and looking inside the dead part of the Apple tree to see what I could find. I studied the major ant colonies, the molehills, flowers the bumblebees preferred and which birds to expect to see. I checked the pool area for frogs as they often leapt in to cool off. I would fish them out and put them back in the forest. I learned birds voices and their conversations. I knew when there was a hawk close by versus when the hawk was overhead because their conversations changed with the situation. We dissected animals we found dead in the yard and we would do our best to ensure sick or injured animals could recover.

My life has always been and always will be about animals. I am constantly asking questions about animals. My “need-to-know” attitude has kept me asking questions and turning some into hypothesis. This has helped my on my journey as a scientist. If you are trying to become a scientist, this is the advice I have for you: ask all the questions. Write them down. Find patterns and follow your gut.

I am thankful for my siblings in supporting my decisions and curiosities. You have helped me grow. If you even read these posts I love you and miss our outdoor adventures everyday.