Kimwipes are Great

For those of you that don't know, Kimwipes are "delicate task wipers" designed for lab use. Sure you can use them to clean your glasses, do too-lazy-to-take-out-paper math, or wipe away tears, but they're made for science. Cleaning up media messes and wiping off cell scrapers and wiping the lens of something that you probably don't want to scratch.

Today was the last day of one of my labbies. I've only been in the lab for a year, so it hasn't been as hard for me as it has been for the others, but I'm definitely going to miss him. Yeah he's going on to bigger and better things, but it really doesn't make it any easier to not see someone that you've seen almost every day for the past 345 days. My grad student has always told me that one of the greatest things about science is the fact that we get to meet all of these smart, charming, and amazingly unique people, and from what I've seen in my short career, that is ABSOLUTELY true. Over the past year, my labmates have served as examples of how I want to live my life; they've become a second family to me. They've been the friends I wish I could be, the parents I one day want to be, and they have the kind of deep and meaningful relationships with those around them that I can only hope for when I'm older. They're kind and smart and cool and funny and I honestly don't think I could have stumbled into a more amazing group of misfits.

Today my grad student told me that one of the worst parts of science is getting to spend time with and bond with all of these smart, charming, and amazingly unique people only to have them leave. We understand that every experience is just a stage in our careers and in our lives, but wow, it's sad. Since this is just a part of science, does that make it okay to use Kimwipes to wipe away the tears? Who cares? We'll do it anyways.