As a child, I spent as much time outside as possible. When rain kept me inside, I found escape in nature books or nature documentaries. In the summers, I would capture any insect I could find and learn how they moved, how they grew, what they ate, and how they acted. I would catch wasps in empty soda bottles between the apartment buildings I explored in Dog Town. I soon discovered… to my grandmother’s dismay, that a few minutes in the freezer would allow me more time to see them up close under a magnifying glass before they thawed out and flew away.

I lived within walking distance of the St. Louis Zoo and could hear the elephants and the big cats at night as I dozed off. I felt at one with the animals and the natural world. I would beg my parents to take me to Powder Valley Nature Reserve, and I would explore the woods and the creeks in search of new plants, frogs, salamanders, and if lucky, a bear. I was never able to see a bear, which is more than likely for the best. However, I did see many other amazing creatures full of life and free, living in a world I wanted so much to be a part of but never could.

As I grew into my teenage years, my fascination continued, and I started to realize that the vast majority of my peers were blind to the life around them, and few could identify species, let alone care to. Meanwhile, in my mother’s basement, I had several cages lined at the tops with petroleum jelly to prevent the different species of roaches I had caught from escaping. I raised several generations, learned how they breed, figured out what they like to eat the most, and discovered they carry their egg cases with them until they are about ready to hatch. This is the reason they are so hard to get rid of and keep building immunity. What kills the mother is already being pumped into her offspring.

In college, I still frequented the woods, went to a wilderness survival school, consumed more nature documentaries and books, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in… Sociology? I know, I know, it seems strange, but humans are really fascinating animals. After college, I ended up working in education for a few years, met the love of my life, and we got married. Eventually, I ended up working in finance and fell in love with the markets. I excelled in my career, enjoy learning new things, and helping those around me learn and grow.In addition to this career development, I also had two children, and the time warp ensued. Much like this summary of my life strayed from the underlying theme of nature and my fascination with it, so had I.

Having children changed me in a lot of really unexpected and powerful ways. Every day I get to see their curiosity and witness their sense of oneness with the world. It awakened the kid in me, the part of me still in tune with that sense of wonder that I had for too long neglected. Sure, I have plants, leaopard geckos, a cat, and a dog. And I still learn a lot about animals by reading David Quammen and other biology books. However, I had not been acting on that passion and love for the natural world past the extent of yard work, exploring, sharing my knowledge with the kids, and helping to maintain the Lily Pond at Francis Park.

Recently, I turned 35 and I decided to start growing, learning, exploring the world again, and breathing life into that internal child that gets excited by the close-up face of a wasp. This is the goal of this website. I will be sharing pictures that I have taken of local flora and fauna, as well as writing about the species and the story of how I found them. I hope to not only grow and learn more myself but also hope that you will learn and grow as well. Most of all, I hope to reignite that childhood wanderlust and sense of oneness that we were all born with, not only for myself but for anyone who comes to visit.