Your story does a great job at highlighting the small but profound every-day experiences of working in a lab with living beings as test subjects. It's hard to put into words the strength of wonder you can acquire for life working as a scientist or animal handler -- you have immense depth of understanding of the microscopic scale biology while simultaneously seeing it at work in real time in the whole animal (or society of animals) on the macro scale. It's the biology equivalent to the "pale blue dot" sentiment.

The only similar deep, profound awe at life I've had outside of the lab was when my son was born. This might be the most common way people achieve this state of being. In all honesty this was one of the best parts of lab work. For me it happened every day; you're reminded of the insane complexity and the high degree of frailty of life. The terribly large power difference between yourself and a small animal in your hand. The deep similarities between humans and other animals, and at the same time, the worlds of difference. For me these experiences in the lab day after day put many other things in life on a lower rung, for better or for worse (like sustaining grad student pay and living conditions perhaps). But I wouldn't trade having that experience for anything.

Your story hints at this beautifully, and I hope others get the chance to feel that feeling.