Twenty years of research, and the lake never gave me what I wanted. Not until Monday. Not until I was too tired to care. I stood on the dock, watching the water for hours, and the jellyfish finally showed up—tiny, almost invisible, like a joke. Everyone wanted to see them. I wanted to feel something. I kept thinking about all the summers I spent here, all the data that never meant anything, all the times I convinced myself the next season would be different. The medusas drifted by, harmless, unbothered. I thought about how long they’d waited at the bottom, hiding, just to surface when the conditions were right. I wondered if I’d ever know what that felt like. #Science #ScienceFatigue #FieldworkBlues