Lucky me.

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest person in the world. Really. When I was 7 or 8 years old my Mom and I went with a bus full of people from Milwaukee to the Field Museum in Chicago to see the "Treasures of Tutankhamen" exhibit. I remember her preparing me, telling me how old the objects were, their story, and how they were precious beyond compare. Real, live, treasure. I remember the lines of people queuing up the enormous stairs outside the museum and how when we entered the exhibit how she lifted me so I could see inside the cases. In one was a chair for a child, made for someone just around my age, the boy king himself.

We had dinner with Mom's friends who had traveled with us that day. The man leaned over and asked, " Would you like to be an Archeologist? You could work at the Museum." I had no idea what an archeologist was but the idea of working in a museum was so exciting, so beyond anything I'd imagined myself doing. That night I hung the poster we'd bought of Tutankhamen's golden death mask on my bedroom wall.

I got older but always maintained an interest in ancient Egypt. I wore a cartouche with my name in hieroglyphics on it until it's silver began to wear away, I attended lectures whenever I could including one on my 18th birthday titled: "What's new in ancient Egypt? " I read books and was riveted by any PBS special on the subject. I was an Egypt geek.
Eventually, I went to art school (Archeology wasn't in the cards for me). Got a job at a natural history museum and was lucky enough to be part of the exhibits department there for fifteen years. In 2001 I visited Egypt, for the trip of a lifetime. In 2005 there were layoffs, I lost my job and then there was, depression.
One day I got a call asking if I'd be willing to travel as an artist with an exhibition. I was given all the pertinent information, what was expected, per diems, lodging, pay, etc. I agreed. The very last thing I asked before hanging up the phone was, "What's the exhibit?" "King Tut". I tried not to squeal. I think I may have said, "Cool". I can't remember the exact words, but I remember the exact feeling-- Lucky.
I've been on the Tut crew for about five years now. Sometimes as I look in the cases at the treasure inside I can still conjure that childhood feeling of being lifted by loving arms, my eyes wide and my feet dangling.