when I was 10...

This post is part of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop and is about what I would be doing if I had persued the career I dreamt of when I was ten.

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When I was 10, I wanted to be an astronaut. 

Maybe it's because it was a big year in NASA history. Scary year. Yet, I wanted to be an astronaut.

You see, when I was 10 it was 1986. On January 26, 1985 the space shuttle Challenger loaded up an eclectic crew, including  Sharon Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first teacher in space. Needless to say, this was a big deal. My fifth grade teacher rolled in the television so we could view this historic event and in turn, we watched a horrific event when the space shuttle exploded.

Yet I still wanted to be an astronaut...

I was so upset by January 26th's events. But I was also intrigued with the possibilities of space travel. And women in space. I wanted to be part of these historic events.

The following year, at the end of sixth grade, I was given a wonderful opportunity. I attended Space Camp in Huntsville Alabama, where I learned about the space program and went through an, obviously, modified astronaut training program. I had a blast (pun intended) and those five days are memories I will keep forever.

And a few years passed and I got into high school. Became interested in boys. Started caring about how I looked. And the notion of becoming an astronaut faded away...

Can you imagine if I had kept to that? I likely would never have been allowed back into the NASA Space Center after they saw my math scores. But how exciting would it have been? Especially now that the space shuttle program is winding down.

When I was 10 I wanted to be an astronaut. What did you want to be?