Where did he come from?

Roland, in many ways, is the boy of my dreams.  Except I never would have thought to dream of a boy so passionate about plants.  He comes alive every spring, planting seeds in our raised beds, requesting plants every week at the Saturday Market.  He has a few adult friends that he really has his own relationship with, and they are plant people.

I really think that he is destined to work with them somehow, whether as a farmer, nurseryman, or scientist.  He is now interested in making a 'purple strawberry'.  So I have had lengthy discussions where I have been explaining genes, DNA, Mendel, and selecting for characteristics (which in turn has led to discussions of  what proteins are, what nuclei are, what a generation is. . .)  It's difficult to explain concepts usually learned in High School Biology to an 8 year old.  But this is the job.

Roland and I discussed gene splicing last night, and he said 'Oh, I need a lab so bad!  I need one right now!'  and I wondered;  Am I raising a super-villian here?  He prayed tonight that he was thankful for learning more about plants and that 'mom used the internet just for me'.