blast from the past

yesterday, i had a very special person come visit me at seaworld. she has been a HUGE influence in my life and has helped me get to where i am today...she is my 2nd grade teacher, mrs. harder. second grade was by far my favorite...i learned how to tell time, learned about geometrical shapes, learned how to spell "paleontologist," learned some french ("bonjour madame patrick...la cheminée est rouge") AND i learned about THE OCEAN!!!!!!! second grade was the moment in history where i realized i wanted to work with marine animals...i wanted to study the ocean...i wanted to scuba dive (as part of the ocean unit, mrs. harder told us all about her scuba diving adventures and then her husband came into school to show us all his gear and pictures and tell us stories). the seed was planted when i was 8 years old and i haven't stopped dreaming since.

anyways, yesterday mrs. harder came to seaworld with her 2 grandkids and husband. they got to help me feed the bat rays and anemones at forbidden reef and one of my friends at wild arctic took them on a tour to see a walrus, arctic fox, polar bear and meet a beluga. it was so special to have her there and to catch up...i feel like she hasn't changed one bit and it just brought me so much happiness to share this part of my life right now and show her what a huge impact she made on my career goals and life.

who would've thought a girl raised in the land-locked state of colorado would grow up to love the ocean so much...who would've thought...

THANK YOU MRS. HARDER!!!!