Believe In the Beauty of Your Dreams

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

I was on the cusp of my teenage years when Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, was released. I didn’t learn about it until I had just turned thirteen. As a voracious reader, and also somebody who still loves dinosaurs, it was a book I knew I had to read.

So much so that I read the entire novel two times in three days.

I dreamed of becoming a Genetics Engineer like Henry Wu or a Chaos Theorist (Chaotician?) like Ian Malcolm.

In my 9th grade English class, I led a two-day debate on the ethics of genetics engineering. I also studied chaos theory and ran fractal generation programs on my 486 processor that would sometimes take 96 hours to generate.

Spoiler alert! I didn’t grow up to be a Geneticist, but I know one. I also didn’t come to master chaos theory. I instead opted to study Mechanical Engineering where I knew I would one day build incredible machines to help those with severe mobility challenges better navigate the world.

Second spoiler alert! I did graduate from university with a degree in mechanical engineering, but have never worked as a Mechanical Engineer.

Instead, I went on to work with companies that specialize in distribution. For a time, I actually sold toilet paper. Now, my day job is with a company that installs solar panels for agricultural…