What could have been — maybe should have been — but never became of my life

I was going to be a high school teacher and coach.

Join the Navy, see some of the world by sea.

Become a pharmacist, like my dad, but I feared college-level chemistry courses.

Look into an apprenticeship with a local trade union.

My favorite job in college was selling albums and concert tickets at the old Lame Duck Records in Belleville. It was a great gig. Music was played so loudly that it made the storefront windows rattle like an earthquake. We sat a lot. I could have made that job work a while longer.

I wanted to work at the ballpark but couldn’t see myself selling beer or being an usher.

I was young, fun and clueless.

I’ve spent some time over the past few months reflecting on my career and working days. I’ve thought about what I did with my working life, but also all the what-ifs and careers that were on my radar before I got distracted and took other turns.

I was lucky to have a career that involved writing because I’m not sure what else I can do and earn a living.

But the only career option I ever seriously considered was teaching and coaching.

I wanted to coach high school football and baseball. I’m not sure what subject I would have taught, although English likely would have been my ultimate choice. At the time, I wasn’t interested in other subjects. English would have been a challenge, though, because literature bored me to daydreams.

I wanted to be like my old grade- and high-school coaches and teachers. I wanted to make a difference. Teaching is a noble profession.

Then life started taking natural twists and turns. I took a few journalism classes.

And fewer education classes.

I moved away from teaching and studied journalism and business, and it all worked fairly well.

What kind of English teacher and coach would I have been?

I would have tried to be old school, of course.

Students would have written every day: journals, letters, stories, essays. Occasionally, they would be asked to read their work out loud to their classmates. It builds character. It also allows students to see different sides of one another.

We would have stood at the chalkboard and diagrammed sentences: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. Learn their roles in composing sentences. The basics. Like I did as a student. It was not fun, but it taught me structure.

We would have read the classic literature like The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men. But we would have included some newer literature and newspaper columnists, too. You become a good writer by reading good writing.

Coaching-wise, I think my success would have depended greatly on the talent and attitudes of the athletes. Maybe I could have played a positive role. I would have had a soft spot for the smaller athlete, or the chubby kid, and the good teammates.

Parents would have liked me as long as their son or daughter was playing a lot and having a positive experience on my team.

I would have been easy on referees and umpires as long as they were hustling and in position.

I think about that old teacher, and what he might be like today.

What could have been, maybe should have been, but never became my real life.

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/pentagon-bans-journalists-from-press-office-designating-it-a-classified-space,261906?vgo_ee=85V%2B7nCjbjcZz7jp3DEfNaarDzbpjDOH%2FS%2Bxef17WJ0%3D%3A1VdgTktX%2FCzWHQ4WrI3RR02qBKecTzrq I figured it out, stayed positive, and got lucky.