Sam listened while Ellie Kaufman raved on about how amazing her trip to the Marshall Islands had been that past summer, all the data she’d collected, how busy it would keep her and her new grad students, how beautiful the weather had been. Ellie probably could have kept going all afternoon.
“I remember my own trip to the Solomons,” Sam interjected. “It seems so long ago now, but some of my happiest memories are from that trip.”
“I almost feel guilty. I enjoyed it so much it was like having a vacation funded for me.”
Sam laughed. “I know, but it was definitely a hard working vacation. I remember collecting a ton of data, and you did, too. Is it our fault our research sometimes takes us to paradise locations?”
“Hell no, it isn’t!”
“More power to us, I say.”
“Here, here!” Ellie looked a
