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In honor of my not-so-secret birthday, let's discuss what careers we envisioned for ourselves as kids. Did you have just one idea that all your dreams were made of, or was your future more of a moving target?
I was one of the latter - each year I had a new profession that I was gonna be when I grew up. Here's my list; note that my "years" are based on school years not calendar years, as my memories are inevitably tied to what grade I was in at the time, not how old I was.
Pre-school - garbage man
I was in awe of the garbage trucks and how they could "gruff" the trash in the compactor!
Kindergarten - ornithologist
My favorite book was the Field Guide to Birds of North America and I loved to watch hawks and vultures soaring above.
1st grade - construction worker
I wanted to operate a lime green front-end loader because I loved giant construction machines.
2nd grade - center fielder for the Detroit Tigers and wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals
The hometown Tigers had just won the World Series and the Bengals had cool helmets; apparently I was going to be Bo Jackson!
3rd grade - paleontologist
I was going to dig up fossils to study prehistoric mammals; my favorite was Andrewsarchus for obvious reasons. :)
4th grade - zoologist
I wanted to study large mammalian predators such as wolves, bears, and big cats
5th grade - marine biologist
In particular I wanted to study marine mammals, especially orcas and dolphins.
6th grade - fiction writer
Reading countless Newberry Medal books got me thinking that I could write cool stories, too.
7th grade - forest ranger
I loved trees, especially redwoods and sequoias. A family trip to Yellowstone National Park inspired this one.
8th grade - canine and/or dolphin behaviorist
My plan was to understand dog/dolphin communication and ultimately learn to speak their language.
9th grade - astronaut
My dream was to take part in the first mission to walk on Mars.
10th grade - architect
I read a book about Frank Lloyd Wright and loved the concept of blending form with function.
11th grade - aerospace engineer
I loved airplanes and flying; plus, it sounded impressive when written on a college application.
12th grade - helicopter pilot
I had started taking flying lessons and preferred "low and slow" rather than "high and fast" flying.
How did I choose? With my eyesight too poor to become a pilot, I stuck to the most recent available career and became an aerospace engineer; besides, I kinda felt locked in by virtue of my choice of college major. In college I did revisit the pilot idea with the Marines when I found out they offered waivers for imperfect eyesight; however, my vision was way too nearsighted for a waiver and I didn't want to be a back-seater.
I might have considered careers in athletics had I thought that was an option; however, from an early age my mom instilled that such careers were dead-ends and sports were just games. Now that I realize how possible it is to have meaningful careers in athletics, perhaps my interests there would've received more serious attention.
Ironically (or perhaps predictably) I'm presently none of the professions listed above; I still call myself an aerospace engineer but in truth I work as a computer systems engineer for a company that puts their products on aircraft. In retrospect I probably would've preferred a career in the natural sciences because as cool as technology is, it's never more fascinating than nature.
Yes, I dream of being able to run a 3-hour marathon, when I'm conscious at least. When I'm sleeping, apparently I have much more fanciful marathon dreams, like this recent one...
My dream began at the starting line of the Grand Rapids Marathon but I wasn't expecting a fast time - I was just running to have fun. It's a bright, clear, sunny, warm day and I'm just cruisin' along. At the 8-mile mark I check my watch and see that I'm on a 3-hour pace and still feeling strong! But I knew this race wouldn't be fast so I didn't get my hopes up; besides, this marathon was advertised as an adventure race.
Soon I find out why - I'm running through a beer tent during the Oktoberfest in Munich! I distinctly remember the giant, sky-blue and white striped circus-like tent full of very happy patrons all offering me a stein of beer. I kept saying "Nur Wasser, bitte!" ("Only water, please!") but none of them had water. So I pressed on.
Next I was running along the banks of Plum Creek... yes, the same Plum Creek of Laura Ingalls Wilder fame. The course ran us through her family's old dugout home. Immediately after that we were running through the Big Woods, you guessed it, taking a tour of her log cabin. I even had to climb the ladder into the loft, then back down, as part of the course.
The marathon continued to the great plains of Africa, where I ran through a humongous wood-frame tent with translucent canvas walls. It was easily the size of a large farm barn, if not larger, yet the interior looked like the inside of a zeppelin with catwalks everywhere. Again I had to climb a ladder, this one about 40 feet high, and then run along the rafters! Yet I wasn't nervous at all; in fact I was enjoying it and made a point to remember to thank the race director. Sleeping on panels of canvas all over the barn-tent were native tribal African couples. I ran out of the barn-tent and ran a big lap around an open field, then back through the barn-tent. This time through one of the sleeping couples were making love right in front of me! They ignored me and I did my best to ignore them, too.
My race was nearing the end but there was one more building to traverse - an old Spanish monastery somewhere on the California coast. It had stucco walls and mostly ceramic tiles on the roof, except for the tower which had an old, rotting, wooden roof. Once again I scaled a very long ladder to reach the tower roof and became nervous about having to run across the roof - it didn't look very sound. A monk appeared wearing a nun's outfit and coaxed me to come across, insisting it was safe. I took a few steps and my left foot suddenly crashed through! The monk-nun grabbed my hand and helped me the rest of the way across. As I climbed down the ladder on the other side I looked at my watch and saw 5:30 elapsed time, and figured I'd finish within 6 hours. I was quite satisfied with this time and thought to myself "This was quite an adventurous race! I'll sign up again next year."
The end.
Two nights ago I dreamed that I worked for the Air Force at Cheyenne Mountain. I was on an airliner, traveling on a business trip to the east coast with a Japanese woman, sitting in a window seat. Looking out the window I suddenly saw contrails arcing into the sky from the ground; one of them passed near our airplane and I instantly recognized it as an ICBM since I worked with those at my Air Force job. I watched the first stage of the rocket separate and somehow even noticed the MIRVs being prepared for deployment.
It occurred to me that a massive nuclear conflict had begun, and that we were still four hours from landing - being airborne, there was nothing we could do about the devastation that was about to happen. "The world is going to be a different place when we land" I thought to myself.
Then the airline pilot decided to divert to Kalamazoo. We landed in no time - before the missiles hit, even. I decided that I needed to find an airplane and fly myself to a desolate area outside of any potential radiation zones that would be near populated cities. My Japanese business partner and I ran through the hangars of the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, looking for an aircraft that was airworthy. Finally I found a WWII fighter plane in working order, except that it was missing a propeller!
I desperately searched the other museum aircraft trying to find one with a suitable propeller. Finally I found one (I remember it had a red hub) and tried to remove it discretely - there was a tour guide and her group of tourists wandering about the museum and I didn't want to attract attention. I got the propeller off, but I really struggled trying to install it onto that flightworthy aircraft. I was getting very frustrated...
...and I woke up. What an interesting dream!