When I Grow Up…

The last two days I’ve read stories about drivers for the Weinermobile, a job that pays you to go to Disney, and a job as a coffee taster. For most of us, that sounds like a dream job. I realize I’m pretty blessed with my job but we all had that daydream job, the one from when you were a kid and just knew you were going to be famous or rich or whatever.

I wanted to be an astronaut and not just like I had space toys. I talked with Air Force recruiters to find the best plan of action for me to get to NASA. At the time, I thought all astronauts were pilots but the recruiters said I should go to the Academy, major in a STEM degree path and then try to apply to NASA. That was all well and good until I got a D in Geometry and I no longer qualified for the Academy. I was a freshman in high school and I had already screwed up my dream job. Fortunately for me, I was quick-witted and a fast learner so when I decided to shift my focus and become a DJ, I was able to succeed.

Not everyone is that fortunate, my dad worked in a factory my whole life. The pay was decent and it kept us all fed but it wasn’t his dream by any stretch. I learned my love for space from him when I was little. We watched Star Trek and Star Wars together. I watched him build scale models of the Enterprise, the Space Shuttle, and a Saturn V rocket. Nevertheless, he was working the job that put food on the table and roof over our heads.

I’m sure you can relate. Maybe you were going to be a rockstar, a baseball player, a doctor, or an artist. One day most of us have to move on to our big kid job. That’s where my dad’s wisdom came into play for me. He told me to “work until the work was done,” and I’ve tried to do that everywhere I’ve worked. So where you’re working your dream job, your job that pays the bills, or both; be excellent at it every day!