The Autie Anthropologist

 I'm sitting here writing this and the feeling of how far I have come is overpowering.  I am 26 years old now, and once I would have thought that such an mature, grownup age, but not so much anymore lol. I still feel very much the awed child who would consume enormous amounts of animal/nature encyclopedias, and every show on the History, Science, and Animal Planet channels. I wondered what I would do when I grew up, and I longed for it to be something with animals, and somehow making a difference in our fraught world. I had the most glorious childhood, outside pretty much all the time inventing various imaginative games for my sisters, friends and I to play, or observing animals. I did excellent in school when I had teachers who understood an embraced my eccentricities (thank you Mrs. McCammon!) and pretty bad when I didn't have those kind teachers. Eventually, my parents found a Waldorf school for me to go to, and for the first time, as a fifth grader, I actually really enjoy...