I got to thinking about roots on this Athens trip … both familial and arborilogical.  They were all around us:  in street names and lake bottoms; in “I knew your Grandmother” and in the damp earth of twisting vines along creek beds.  Not everyone is fortunate enough to know their genealogical roots.  And I have come to realize even if they do it may not mean much, as some families are not close.  I have thought a lot over the years about nature versus nurture.  I believe they both have merit and frankly I’m not sure which has more sway in the end.  This next day my husband gave me a tour of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.  Honestly, I thought it was going to be a bunch of men in overalls trying to extract poor fish from a barrel.  To my somewhat chagrined surprise and utter delight, it was also a place of learning promoting the wise use and conservation of Texas’ natural resources.  They had a wetlands trail emphasizing the ecology and interrelationships among aquatic habitats.  It was fascinating.  I never knew the importance of brackish water before this exhibit, with 300,000 gallons of aquaria and other exhibits allowing for the study of native Texas fish in their natural environment.  Here we were in this small town and a jewel was discovered.  They had HUGE catfish practically the size of our wolf cubs and the knowledge junkies in us thought it more of a living/working museum.  So back to nature versus nurture.  American writer Sam Kean said:

“The more that I looked at DNA, the more I realized it was nature and nurture.  It’s how genes and your environment work together to produce the person you are.”

I have always thought my husband was the overlooked gem, much like this center we had just toured.  I am glad to be the one that gets to nurture his nature; just as he nurtures mine.  It’s all in our roots.