When I Grow Up.....

The recent shutdown of NASA's space transportation program brought back vivid memories of my childhood.  I still remember fondly the day my Auntie Janet sent me a birthday present with the Play-Doh dentist kit.  Both my Mom and Aunt had been dental assistants at one point in their lives and so it was not unusual to receive this kind of gift.  I remember shaping the teeth and placing them in the mouth of this round head that hinged open and closed and asking my Mom all sorts of questions as I played "Dentist".  That is the earliest memory I have of deciding that when I grow up I am going to be a dentist. 

 I remember quite vividly my Father telling me that to be a dentist you need to get good grades and so upon entering school a year later I vowed to myself to get good grades so I could achieve my dream.  As a child I was a complete independent spirit (believe it or not) and I wanted to be the best at everything I tried to do so studying came pretty natural to me.  I continued to pursue the dream to be a Dentist until I discovered space shuttles in an issue of National Geographic.  Most of us can probably recall the tragedy associated with the Challenger explosion.  My class watched it from a little portable television with everyone gathered in a small room.  Everyone entered the room so excited to get to watch the lift off and everyone leaving the room somberly.

The Challenger disaster didn't hinder my desires.  So I ordered book after book from the State Library (there was no internet in those days) and I read all I could read about "outer space".  I still remember reading the plans for a Space Station that was only an idea at that time.  And as I read I imagined myself in that Space Station.  I built Space Shuttle models and rockets to learn more about these amazing vehicles.  I longed to go to Space Camp but my parents refused to spend the money to send me so I had to settle with watching the movie instead.  I own it on DVD and still dig it out and watch it every so often imaging like I did as a kid that I was one of those lucky kids that ended up in space by accident.

One day a teacher decided that I should write a paper all about my dream career and how I would achieve it.  The more research I did I soon discovered that actually getting the opportunity to go into space has such low odds and little by little writing the paper actually led me to decide that I no longer really wanted to pursue this career.  But in the back of my mind I never really gave up the fantasy.  A part of me always wished for a way to end up on a shuttle.  After all, I was pretty sure that they could use dentist astronauts in space.  But as of July 21st, there is no chance my dream will ever come true.  The space shuttle missions are now a part of history.  A program that started and ended within my lifetime.  The closest I got was a visit to NASA in Houston last summer with a bunch of my dental cohorts:)