Mid Life Career Change: Lifeguarding?

Have you spent any time lately talking with a young person about what they want to do for a career?  Well... I have a 17 year old son who I've had several conversations with of late on this topic.  Funny thing... have you ever heard you self saying the phrase..."I haven't figured out what I want to do yet when I grow up?"

I see life as a continual "growing up" process and we never ever really get to the place we think we ought to be.  I remember having it planned out in my mind when I was 17 that I wanted to be an Optometrist. Why? How did I come to that conclusion?  I can tell you I think it was because... number one... I started wearing corrective lenses when I was about 6 or 7.  Two... my dad had a sweet package of benefits thanks to the UAW that allowed us the ability to get an eye exam AND glasses every year.  I have more on this later.

I remember meeting a then young Dr. Donald Borsand... yes we hit it off because we were both the "Donald's" before Mr. Trump arrived on the national seen.... and two... he was tall and gangley like me... and three the office was brand new plus loaded with all kinds of cool gadgets that interested me to no end.  I loved the multiple choice questions and always excelled at that growing up.... "Is this better?... or This? FLIP This? or This?  And before your eyes the letters got either better or worse.  Dr. B was the final authority and would finally come to the conclusion that this was indeed the correct prescription for your vision.  WOW... that was pretty powerful to me. 

I even remember going in to talk with him years later to dig into the details about the career opportunity.  One thing I should have paid closer attention to.... really truth be known there are probably more than one things... but I never really looked into the cost involved in getting through the education required to follow this career path.  I did my homework and learned that there were 13 schools of Optometry in the United States and that in fact there was one in Mid Michigan at Ferris State University.  I guess I figured I'd cross that bridge when I got to it.  Ohhh.... the other couple of minor things... Uhhh.... having a solid and great understanding of Mathematics and Science is another very important requirement. 

Let me say it this way.... I enjoyed science emensly but I must admit that mathematics was not my strong suite coming out of high school.  I'm not going to sling arrows and stones at the education factory I attended growing up.  We all have a choice in every thing we do.  Then my choice was to excel in entertainment and stand up comedy (or sit down comedy) to my friends in school.   It then put me in the position to play some major catch-up once I left the factory.  

The bottom line folks is that when I got that bridge crossing moment I learned some very important things.  Now pay careful attention young folks!  Lesson one.... I financed my own education by doing manual labor of all sorts.  Hard work... back breaking work.... to finance my education.  Two... I re educated myself in the area's I came up short in such as math.  Three...programs like the medical path I was thinking about are very expensive investments.   The bottom line is that the effort for me to get to this point was significant AND monumental.  To this day I have dreams of being late for a class that I have not yet been to.... and it is already well into the term.... walking across campus to find a classroom I have not yet been to and walking in trying to somehow make it work.  I consider this my own version of "post traumatic stress disorder".

Getting back to the main point.... 25 years into my life time career.... I now see I have missed the target yet once again.  Just a few short weeks ago we vacationed in beautiful New Port Beach California.  April is of course the off season and the thin skinned Californian's would never think of hitting the beach in April.  However,  the hearty stock in us mid-westerners consider this to be like one of the finest days we'll get back in our home states.  I did take note of the red jacket, faded tan, sun glassed, blanket covered, Haselhoff want to be in the tower.   It never occurred to me that this could have been my career path.  If I'd only taken swimming class more seriously from Mr. Hill back at SHS.  I could have been a life guard....with a sweet life on the beach.... knocking down $200K and living the dream.  I could have been a contender.... a California Dreamer.

Well... it's never too lake so I am off the the Y... got to hit the weights and then the pool!