Its 2005. I am on the couch in the living room. I am wearing my favourite Justice brand clothing, with my decked out build-a-bears beside me. Animal Planet is on. I am watching 'The Most Extreme’. I am absorbing every animal fact thrown at me by the narrator. I already know some of the facts because I’m a frequent follower of this channel. So much so that I know if I turn on Animal Planet around 6am the dog show is on. I am a junior wildlife expert, only self proclaimed at this point.
Flash forward to August 2015. I am enrolled in a Wildlife class at my high school. Shoutout to Bearden High School. The first day of class, Mr. Savery and Mrs. Henke are asking the class about animals. I have prepared for this day since the beginning of time. This is my moment. I tell you- I was the first person to raise their hand after every question asked. I believe I even blurted out the answer when some other kid who raised their hand was called on. It was war. I could feel the searing eyes glaring at me and their jealousy of my knowledge turning bright green. I could not accept the term “know it all” for my behaviour, I was an “expert.” This is the most type A I have been in my life, I am well known as a type B personality. Challenge my knowledge about animal facts and you challenge me. Anyway besides the point of entertainment- at my high school graduation I thanked my teacher for teaching me an abundance of facts and knowledge about wildlife. He told me I was now an expert. The excitement on my face was undeniable. I am no longer a self proclaimed wildlife expert, it has been verbally notarised.
Present day, I am at the top of my game. Identifying animals I have solely seen on, and learned about on TV. Here in Australia there are these good sized bats. They are commonly known as flying foxes due to their facial resemblance to a fox. They have big eyes, so sight is one of their strong senses. The wingspan of one of these things is about 3 feet according to National Geographic. They come out at night in colonies. Dozens and dozens of bats fill the sky with their graceful flight. One night after we all went to a Rugby game, and everyone else left; Addie and I stayed behind. We left a bit later around dusk. We were waiting for the bus when we saw all these bats crowding the sky and chattering. They were crash landing into these nearby trees. What I mean is that they would fly to a branch, latch on with their feet, and then they flip upside down to the wide known “bat pose.” It is kinda comical to observe. What is even neater is that when Addie and I were walking under the tree, I stared at one and it looked over and stared back. I made eye contact with a bat. He seemed friendly. I was so enthralled with the bats.
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