"What kind of girl does a Mummy take on a date?
Any girl he can dig up."
I've always loved History. My Daddy grew up a history buff and thus, passed it down to me. When I was younger, we used to walk around Historical Philadelphia every weekend just for fun. We would go to Civil War Re-enactments and various other historical areas near by. However, while we both love history so much, there's different aspects of history that we know better. My Dad was always good for knowing dates and years, whereas for me, I like the quirky, little known facts about a historical period. For instance, did you know that during the Revolutionary War Period, prisoners were fed Lobsters instead of Bread and Water. Lucky guys. It's a mind-blowing experience when you can surprise people with these facts.
Anyway, so my love for History is huge. However, as I get older, I realize that really it's my love for American History. In recent years, I've had the wonderful opportunity to study ancient and medieval literature. And in order to understand the literature, you must understand the history and time period. I can honestly say, I didn't really appreciate it as much as US History. I realized, it's because it's too far away for me, it's too distant. For instance, I can go to Independence Hall, and know that once upon a time Ben Franklin and George Washington really stepped foot on those floors and sat in those chairs. But, I can't imagine walking in footsteps of Egyptian Kings, or Ancient Mayans, or even Julius Caesar. It was always difficult for me because I am such a hands-on learner. I could never touch places they have touched. However, that all changed the moment I laid down next to my good friend, Pum II.
After the initial, "GAG! There's dead bodies in here," I started to really investigate on various levels. First, how is he still preserved so many years later? Second, I wonder what his family was like, and his daily life. Third, I wonder how tall he is? With that question, my friends suggested I find out. So, the easiest way to estimate was to lay down next to him and judge him according to my five foot tall height. We decided he's between 5'2 and 5'5, for the record. I think he was tiny! And it was definitely a man! So, maybe men were short then? In addition to all the Mummies (and Deadies...since Halloween was postponed in my town, I feel it's still appropriate for Halloween jokes) we also dived into the Ancient Iraq/Mesopotamia area where my Lit Class found a lot of symbols from our recent study of Gilgamesh (perhaps, my favorite Ancient Tale). We also did a quick visit of Ancient Greece and Rome (but since I've been there, done that in real life...I went to Maya instead.) In the Mayan exhibit, we college students became little kids once again by going on scavenger hunts and interacting with the hands-on learning kiosks. Not going to lie, it was great. It was after all of those mini adventures, that my professor, Sister Elaine, dragged me and my peers off to the Mummies. Actually, correction, it was after we saw the Monja Meurta in the Dios de los Muertos exhibit that she dragged us off. I guess it was a little disconcerting for her....as it was for me. And so there, my appreciation for all these areas of history was born.
Now, I can see a few of you reading this, and thinking, what on earth does this have to do with vocations? Well, here's the thing: First, my teacher is SISTER Elaine, beautiful and wonderfully sarcastic lady. Second, I really got to see her "eat up" all her favorite pieces of history. She has her degree in Ancient and Medieval Studies. This just goes to show that Sisters are real people, my friends. They may not end up in museums as mummies like the real people of Egypt, but they are real. They enjoy the same things that many of us enjoy. They enjoy "nerding out" to fun pieces of literature or history. They don't just have one, solitary, stereotypical interest in Religion. Yes, that's the basis of the interests, but they have other likes. Our field trip to the museum not only gave me an appreciation for other periods of history, but also for the realness of my professor. Especially, when our tour guide was telling us how people we embalmed, and we both happened to have "gag faces" on at the same time. Yeah, she's pretty legit.
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