2007
i couldn’t show you but i hope to one day
maura @ 10:42 pm
A bunch of little things recently have gotten me thinking about bones. All of my (2 or 3) regular readers probably know that I used to be an archaeologist and that my research focus was animal bones. But you might not know why. Of course, you might not care why either, but it’s my blag and I can blag what I want to blag, dammit! (And also I can type “blag” as often as I want to.) (And use lots and lots of parentheses.)
So, bones. When I was little I wanted to be a doctor. From what I recall it seems like a mostly undifferentiated desire, “doctor” as category. And my dad’s a doctor, so that’s probably a big factor.
In my later childhood (what the kids these days call tweens) this general thinking coalesced into a specific interest in bones, and I decided I was going to be an orthopedic surgeon. I’m not sure when, exactly, this coalescence happened, but it’s likely roundabouts age 10 because in 5th grade I had a friend who had a problem with low calcium levels in her body and thus would break at least one bone every few months or so.
Now, leaving aside for the moment the shudder of horror that typing that sentence produced in me now that I am a grownup and a parent (eek! can you imagine? her poor, poor parents), when I was 10 this scenario was pretty dang cool. She practically always had a cast (like Nona Mecklenberg!), and kids would want to sign the cast, and I was the shy type so this seemed real neat to me.
So I did what any envious kid would do: I courted potentially bone-breaking accidents. I “fell” down the stairs. I rollerskated fast in the street. Of course none of it worked: I ended up with a few sprained ankles + wrists, that’s it. I did manage to convince my dad to take me for an xray or two, just in case.
When I got to high school I became obsessed with being “arty” (and all the mid-80s mope-rock that comes with it), and the doctor thing faded into the background. But it’s funny to think that I came back to bones later. Even now when we go to the AMNH and see the animal skeletons I have a hard time restraining myself from naming the different bones to Gus. Luckily he’s too young to blow me off quite yet.
4 comments on “i couldn’t show you but i hope to one day”
I broke my toe too! Running into a wall when I wasn’t looking. That was in 6th grade, by which time I was *ovah* the breaking bones thing so it just hurt. Plus my dad was all “walk it off” and taped it up without even xrays or one crutch, much less two.
Man, it is NOT a good friend who would run over you with a bike! Poor Ben.
This is what happens when you check mauraweb! after eating pizza & before falling asleep—
I had a dream you were talking about going back to archae, but also thought maybe med school. I said do both–be an archaeologist, then if you accidentally dug up someone who was still alive you could help! I suggested you could win an Emmy (probably Daytime) or Oscar tm if you were really good at it, because such a situation would only happen on TV or in movies. (Even in my dreams I am full of good advice!)
There was a restaurant down the street from you called the Blue Oyster (no Cult!). You were friends with the owners, and helped them open every evening. I was taking them the change they needed for the cash register. I kept getting confused — they needed x amount of dimes, quarters, etc. I couldn’t figure out if they needed 8 dimes, 80 dimes, or $80 in dimes. I had an 11 cent piece that looked like the coins you put in the machines at museums, ovate and squashed. I didn’t want to give it to them because I wanted to give it to Max.
Har, that is hilarious! You must be channeling Gus, he is very interested right now in money, making money, and how many coins make how many dollars, etc. Plus he loves those smashy pennies.
So did you ever break anything? I think I broke my toe once when a glass bottle of o.j. fell out of the fridge onto it. Mary Joy taped it for me so it was no big deal, no x-rays or anything.
Ben broke his arm once when his friend ran over him on a bike. He says it (the arm) could bend in all different directions. Not sure if that’s what led to archaeology (I think Indiana Jones had more to do with it) but it may have led to being an EMT.