Thank you

I remember my first day on the job being picked up by a tall guy who talked slow. He was from Tennessee and I had never knew anyone from there. He drank a ton of coffee and talked a lot.  He was very intelligent, kind and had funny personality. I liked his humor a lot.  I remember sitting down in this café in Mabel, a tiny town. He told me he hunted. I had never knew anyone who hunted. But because this man had a personality I liked, I took interest. If he only knew my prejudgments about hunting, but the laid back open- minded individual with the sardonic humor that I liked, was nothing like my California small boxed of a mind was telling me about hunters. It confused me and made me happy. I immediately liked him for his genuine personality, his ability to have fun and be serious. I liked how he interacted with the participants.

I remember a man behind a desk that gave a friendly aura out that I should respect him. Something about him immediately I knew I could work well with. I never worked well under someone I did not respect nor look up to. Something about him gave me the feeling he had a lot of experiences in his life but did not need to talk about them. I was never good at knowing organizations but something about this man made me feel that he knew a lot of people. Sometimes his emails would frustrate me because I would not know what to do with them or how to do what he was asking me to do. But I recognized that he challenged me often, he kept me wanting to do more and better and be better. For some reason I wanted to impress him. I never worked under anyone like that before. I knew he had done peace corps, that he understood. I was going through a lot at the time, readjusting was really hard on me. I missed Paraguay a ton. I felt I had left behind the challenge of being made to be more open and more understanding of others and their views. This man was modest. I liked his class a lot. Everyone did. But working with him  i liked more. I became addicted to answering his emails asap, it became a goal I worked toward and each work day gave me a sense of accomplishment .

I remember a blond pony tailed man wearing shorts. This confused me and kept me confused for a while, because although both the other men were not like anyone I had met before, this man reminded me of the surfers in santa cruz. He must have a young 20 year old woman or two as a girlfriend. He was probably a stoner who hung around at a brewery all day when the surf was bad. So when I found out more about him, I became unbelievably confused. He was a kind man with a huge heart for his family and a genuine love for conservation and making the world better. I remember a conversation I had with him in the van on one of our field trips. I remember his openness, his ability to be completely honest and his genuity as well. His passion for his work was very apparent.

The small amount of time I spent at the Center meant a lot to me. Each of these crazy men I am going to miss. They have formed a family at the center. Thank you for letting me be apart of it.