dianaschnuth

Funny how certain people can get so obsessive about what they enjoy, but in such different ways.

When I was a kid — and I’m guessing most kids are like this — I went through phases of What I Want To Be When I Grow Up. I remember that being a standard getting-to-know-you question from the grown-ups, and I always had an answer. Well, almost always.

I don’t remember when I first joined ballet at age four, but Mom tells me that she gave me a choice between ballet and gymnastics lessons, and I chose ballet. I took lessons at Laura Penton’s Academy of Classical Ballet (which has long since changed names and merged with another studio); I attended ballet classes for four years, and tap for one year. During that time, I was convinced that I was going to be a ballerina when I grew up, despite the fact that I was obviously going to be too big overall — both slightly overweight and tall for my age. Neither of these things were quite so obvious to me at the time as obstacles, though, and Mom didn’t tell me until long afterward about how Ms. Penton had told her that she already knew I wouldn’t get far in the field of dance.

When I was eight years old, we moved from Ohio to Florida. We really didn’t have the money for me to take ballet lessons there, and I remember being horribly upset… for a few months. Once I started school, though, my focus shifted from ballet to science. We were within a couple hours’ drive of the Kennedy Space Center, and both the local news and my teachers at school seemed to make a big deal of shuttle launches and NASA in general. Over the next year or two, I went on a field trip to Cape Canaveral, watched the Challenger explode on live television, and learned how to program in BASIC. When the Guidance Counselor at school asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I told her I wanted to be a computer programmer for NASA. And she told me that I shouldn’t limit myself like that.

At the time, I thought that was the most bizarre response to my highest aspiration. I understand now.
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