When I Grow Up...

As early as 4, I wanted to be an astronaut. To be exact, I had created an occupation of "Astro-agroecologist" sometime in elementary school after I had learned that last part of the word, meaning I wanted to be a space agriculturalist. I wanted this more than anything in the world, and would have gladly traded my Cabbage Patch Doll or multitude of Care Bears or Barbies if that meant I could have it. Science minded from early on, it seems, being that I was a Bio major in college. If I could STILL grow up to be anything, I would still pick astronaut. I think it's the escapist in me ;)

It's kind of cool to realize that part of you has remained the same. How much does the core of our personality really change over a lifetime? All through my education I did as much reading up on space as a kid could, in HS took a random Organic Agroecology class offered by the school, and in college worked my way up to advanced Astronomy. Science in general, and space specifically, has always made my head go woozy with the possibilities. I'm the kind of person who wonders "if a whale is a mammal, does it fart?", then tries to find out. Ends up they do, and yes, because of their mammalian structure. Yay, two points for me!

I did have two back-up dream occupations, just in case that astronaut gig didn't pan out: Egyptologist or rock star. I am so random.