So this is the start of week three of daily blogging! Crazy, huh? I’m loving it. I’m feeling way better about my blogging. It’s getting way easier to get into the daily task of writing a blog post, and I feel my quality is getting better.
So, updates out of the way, this weeks discussion:
We all had dreams as kids, so my question is, what was the first ‘dream job’ you can remember?
Now, it’s obvious writing is my dream, but that definitely wasn’t the first. My first dream job was to be an astronaut. Once upon a time, I could recite facts from dozens of space missions, distances of each planet from the sun, a real ‘astronut.’ At some point, that changed, but NASA is still capturing my imagination, and I doubt that will ever change.
Your turn: What was your first dream job?
My first dream job was to be a football player. But when I was in the fifth grade, I bought a book called “Stars of the NFL” from Scholastic bookclub. To my dismay, I realized that every player was male and muscular. (I was a scrawny girl.) It broke my heart, but a few days later I decided to become a writer.
That’s an attitude for success!
This one is easy … Engineer – Aerospace Engineer before I even knew what it was called. Human spaceflight has always been a passion, as long as I can remember I’ve dreamed of travel to the stars … the machines hooked me, the rockets and spaceships were my passion. I was the only kid in my elementary school that angled and succeeded in getting into the broadcast of the Challenger launch. Only one class had won the privilege of seeing it as it happened. Every other class was scheduled to view the tape at a later time. My class did not win. I made a deal with the teacher’s classes who did win (happens to have been my favorite teacher before then too) and the librarian. I snuck out of class and hide behind a bookshelf to watch it. After the explosion and before anybody could react to what had happened; I run to my teacher’s arms sobbing and screaming. In that moment that she was holding me I promised her I would NEVER let it happen again. I would make human spaceflight safe. I was 10 yrs old and in 4th grade.
I am an aerospace engineer … I’ve even had the privilege of working the NASA Space Shuttle Program for the first 10 years of my career … I landed my dream job just out of college … it was glorious and amazing and inspiring and frustrating and disheartening all at the same time. But above all I’ve made a difference in Human space flight, made it safer though it will never be without danger or loss. The passion for the vehicles is still alive and well within me and I’m excited to see where we go next and what the vehicle looks like and can do that takes us there.
I believe my first dream job was to become a vet (the animal kind, not the soldier kind, lol). Once I realized that I would most likely have to put animals to sleep, that was the end of that. I know it’s humane, but this chick is way to emotional for that!
Amusingly, my dad is both. Knowing your limits is an awesome feeling though. Plus there’s other ways to help animals without being a veterinarian.
Paleontologist! I remember learning about dinosaurs in school in the second grade. I made my best-ever diorama with a red stegosaurus and a yellow brontosaurus made from Play-doh.
Paleontologist was my first dream job, too! I think I was in first grade when we were learning about dinosaurs. I loved the way the word sounded when I said it, too. From there, I decided I wanted to be an archaeologist, a desire that stuck with me until high school when I was talked out of it by my guidance counselor.
Like Kim, I also wanted to be a veterinarian. I don’t know how long that phase lasted, but I remember wanting to be a teacher after that.
Cool to think back on. Nice post, Patrick!