
Tonight I was flipping through the channels on my television while working on another blog piece, and I came across a severe weather alert on The Weather Channel. I stopped and listened to Jim Cantore, one of my old “favorites,” report on a strong storm system in Nebraska. I immediately thought of my friend who lives in Lincoln and texted her to make sure she was safe.
Then I thought, “I remember when I wanted to do that. I remember when I wanted that to be me reporting on tornado warnings and lighting strikes.” Then I remembered that weather is comprised of math and physics and all sorts of science-y stuff, and that wasn’t my thing.
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This could have been me (NSLC 2009). |
With the thought of graduation becoming more and more real, watching The Weather Channel made me think about the what-ifs and what-could-have-beens. What if I had pursued meteorology? What if I had passed on my passion for words and writing to study the atmosphere and its patterns? What would have happened if I’d chosen storm-chasing over press releases? Would I have even gone to Virginia Tech? Probably not, as VT did not launch its meteorology degree program until my sophomore year. I would have had to study at a school that already had an established meteorology program, like Penn State or Georgia Tech.
Don’t get me started on the laundry list of things I would have missed if I hadn’t gone to VT. It’d be over a mile long. Seriously. And I’m glad I don’t have to think about what I would have missed, because I didn’t miss them.
I still find weather incredibly interesting, evidenced by the fact that I’ve been watching this storm report for the last hour. But I am glad I realized meteorology wasn’t for me and moved on from that notion.
But I still like to flip through Weather For Dummies every now and then. I’ll always be kind of a weather nerd.