A Galapagos sea lion (Zalophus wollebaeki) in Galapagos, Ecuador

American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus), parents and chicks, family Haematopodidae, order Charadriiformes, FL, USA

Yellow-bellied Tanager (Ixothraupis xanthogastra), family Thraupidae, order Passeriformes, Many Road, Peru

Long-nosed Snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei), family Colubridae, Death Valley National Park, CA, USA

Florida Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina bauri), female, family Emydidae, FL, USA

Kurt Vonnegut wrote: “When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.

And he went WOW. That’s amazing! And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.”

And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”