There were all sorts of letters to write, signs to make, and bills to pay, and every time the phone rang, there was someone on the other end with new questions for me to answer—new questions that I couldn’t answer.  There was so much to know about wildlife; I wondered if I’d ever be able to field a call without Beth coaching me through it.  There were baby birds falling out of trees left and right, raccoons, skunks, and snakes upsetting people, banded pigeons who had lost their way, and numerous animals who had been attacked by cats or hit by cars.   Though they may start with similar premises, every case is different.       In between phone calls, I’d be running off to get supplies, like minnows for our wading birds, or picking up the mealworms at the post office.  And when we were shorthanded, sometimes you’d find me chopping fruit, folding towels, and picking the mealworms off of their newspaper packaging and putting them in containers of cornmeal.       It was just the other night when my father and I were struggling with peanuts and paper towels in order to place a Havahart trap in the basement ceiling of our home that I realized how much I had learned this summer.  It is not the sort of learning that one could classify or quantify.  All of the studying and exams I had done in college could not and did not prepare me for all of the idiosyncrasies that this position held for me.  Wildlife Works had never had an Administrative Assistant, and I had never been one.  The whole experience was entirely new to both of us.  I spoke with so many interesting people on the phone—so many people who share Wildlife Works’ passion for animals.  And then there were the volunteers—never before had I spent so much time around such a group of dedicated, kind-hearted, selfless people.  Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the paperwork involved in running a business, but the instant Beth rushes through the door covered in dirt and cradling an injured animal, our mission to rescue and rehabilitate makes all the files and forms seem frivolous.      As the summer season progressed, we became increasingly busy.  It seemed like there was so much more to do and even less time in which to do it.  Ironically, I don’t know of a time in my life when I had been so pleased to do what I was doing.  I had heard that if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life.  I have yet to sit through a day of “work” at Wildlife Works.       Now I find myself a bit sad to be going back up to Happy Valley this fall.  I am so fortunate to have had this life-enriching experience.  Thank-you Wildlife Works.                                         <end>

continued from "More than Just Summer Work"