I am a prof of history with an abiding love of nature. One of my most vivid memories from childhood was that of capturing a red eft in Vermont and putting it in a jar. When I was a kid, my grandmother Mary Elting wrote children's books about nature, like "The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs" and "Snakes and Other Reptiles. I was often her first reader. She made me feel like my interests were important and worthy, and that early experience never left me. Inaturalist is helping me pass those interests on to my own kids.