We had hoped to see him at the Fair later that day, but sadly, he never stopped by.
After a casual sightseeing morning and lunch at the local tavern, we approached the fairgrounds, playing “Final Countdown” at full volume (of course), from Lindsey’s iPod, transmitted on FM, with Max tailgating precariously close to the rear bumper to receive the signal and get pumped up, too. The friendly gate attendant greeted us as usual, but also had a bone to pick with us: last night, her grand-daughter came up to her and asked what ‘cast-a-rate’ meant, and the woman told us she could have just strangled us for opening that can of worms. Testes were NOT something she was planning on discussing that evening, ha.
Without the threat of rain, we had another fantastic day, talking with many more people about pets, parasites, veterinary medicine, and life. We even were fortunate enough to get our hands on some animals when the box of kittens we were promised to meet showed up for sexing- four girls and one boy- and we got some adorable fuzzy baby kitty time. We also were introduced to three ducklings that needed sexing, and Lindsey’s imdergraduate summer as a goose bander -slash- herder living at the Bird Sanctuary of MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station came in quite handy.
We also got to see some of our hard work pay off as we noticed repeat customers to the exhibit. One in particular, a boy of about 9 named Hunter, stopped by to learn about everything we had to show, and promptly ran off to bring his mother back to teach her (almost verbatim) everything all the displays, and then again with an aunt or anyone he could find, showing off over and over again just how much of an adorable smartypants he really was.
Finally, as the light started to fade, it was time to say goodbye. Jeff of the Fair Board came to wish us off as we started to pack up, and brought his family to check out the goods we had, as one of his daughters wanted to be a veterinarian and he knew she would love . everything we had to offer. However, her mother explained, she is highly allergic to pet hair, and they’re pretty sure she couldn’t be a veterinarian because of it, so she’s trying to figure out what else to be when she grows up. Well it just so happens they found the right people to talk to, as Lindsey explained that there are veterinarians whose job it is to look in microscopes or work in offices as teachers or researchers, or senators or public health officials, and they all went to vet school. Even though they don’t treat animals every day, they still help animals stay healthy in lots of different ways by learning about disease or how we should feed animals or almost anything! You should have seen her eyes light up upon learning she can still follow her dream of becoming a veterinarian... that's what makes this so worth it.
And if that wasn’t enough, as we were about to close up the completely (COMPLETELY.) full vehicle, an older woman came up to us to tell us that she just had to find us to thank us, because her grandkids were so excited about the things we showed them yesterday that they told her it was the best part of their day at the Fair. She said that she couldn’t get them to slow down about everything they saw, and the enthusiasm in their learning was unbelievable. It was a perfect ending to the first outing for our tour.
As we drove back to East Lansing in an inspiring lightning storm, we discussed just how much we look forward to meeting more people all around the state and spreading the fun and excitement of veterinary medicine- it’s been so fun for us so far. Til next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment