Narrative Memoir Essay Sample: Visiting the Children's Museum of Science

It was quite exciting knowing that I was visiting the Children's Museum of Science in downtown Boston for the first time. I was looking forward to spending time with my friends apart from just viewing the collections and the exhibits. I also wanted to disturb teachers, as, at a younger age, it appeared fun making a joke out of them or rather annoy them. It was a point in my life where I was more into having fun in school and going back home to indulge in video games. I was not interested in acquiring good grades or following the school rules when compared to most of my classmates in the 5th grade. I was not expecting the change that was to take place on that particular day. I had planned to play pranks on my classmates and teachers as soon as we arrived at the museum. I was among the group of jokesters in our class, and hence it was expected that I would engage in mischief. So when my group and I got off the bus, we plotted a way to annoy the travel guide who was going to take us to the museum and show us all the exhibits in the museum. I was fascinated with the museums architecture and the manner in which items were organized. Nonetheless, I was ready to instigate that mischief that we had planned that day. Our teacher rallied us together and assigned the parent volunteers groups of students. Luckily I was put in a group with my best friend. He was way worse than me regarding behavior, so the plan was still in place. We were instructed to move towards the museums entrance in groups to be issued our passes or rather tickets.

I have never forgotten the face of the tour guide that was assigned to our group. His name was Jerry, and one could tell that he was a college student from the way he talked and his dressing. The tour guide first took us through the butterfly exhibit whereby he explained to us all forms of butterflies around the world and various types of metamorphoses. I took much interest in the various species such that I forgot about the mischief plan. Nonetheless, the determination to proceed with the plan was still put by which we asked silly questions and made dumb remarks. Jerri appeared to be amused with our statements rather than being annoyed whereby he laughed off all the annoying remarks we made in an attempt to attract attention from our other classmates. He even replied to all the dumb questions that we presented to him. He seemed to be used to such situations as he handled us without any judgment.

We then proceeded to the dinosaur exhibition and the rock exhibits whereby we still asked dumb questions, and as expected, Jerry answered them without any sign of annoyance. I then switched to asking good questions which I expected that Jerry would be unable to answer. However, he answered them correctly like an expert. It appeared Jerry was familiar and passionate about his work. Therefore, my friend and I changed our objective from annoying the tour guide to challenging his knowledge. Since we had run out of complex questions, we turned to Google to look for more in relation to our next exhibit. The next exhibit was the start exhibit in which we asked him plenty of questions. Jerry was confident with his answers whereby provided us with accurate answers; an aspect that surprised my friend and I. For example, we asked him how old the white dwarf stars in our galaxy were in which he took few seconds to think and then replied with twelve to thirteen billion years. From then, my friend and I decided to be serious as Jerry appeared to be informative. He had our full attention whereby we listened to all that he uttered.

I viewed Jerry as different, unique and one of the smartest people that I had ever met. I found interesting that someone could answer all the science questions without any hesitation. I felt compelled to learn more from what he said. In other words, my friend and I no longer focused on the planned mischief but jerry. From an individual perspective, the engineering exhibit presented a turning point in my life. My mouth was wide open throughout as every item was perplexing. I was fascinated by the mechanical contraptions that appeared to be all over the exhibit. I think I was the only individual who showed interest in the contraptions. I recall taking part in the robotic arm challenge in which every aspect moved my friend and I. Possibly, our interest is what made us win the challenge. By then, Jerry was my hero especially since he instructed us on how to go about the challenge. I ensured that I talked to him after the tour. I recall asking him, How do I become as cool as you? He laughed and told me he was also mischievous when he was my age but then came to love science because of his father. I believe that my interest in science developed that day; with Jerry being my inspiration.