Occupations…

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes think about what my life might have been if I chose to follow one of the professions that attracted me as a kid. Beyond the usual fireman, policeman, or doctor, I had a few unusual ones on my childhood list.

I read a lot—comics at first and then short fiction and novels. Many of the latter were sci-fi, so I imagined myself as a space explorer. Dare I say “rocket man”? In other words, a fellow who flew spaceships and went where no one has gone before in...