It’s been two weeks since our beloved Silver Bloggers community published the latest #48 initiative… Whilst I eagerly await number 49, I didn’t want to sit idly by, so I’ve decided to look back and revisit some of those prompts I wasn’t able to take part in at the time. I sincerely hope that the administrators and friends of this community are well; I hope this brief silence is simply due to market fluctuations and the drop in the token’s value, and not to serious personal circumstances. I send you my best wishes and blessings as I revisit Initiative #22: What did you want to be when you grew up? And did you achieve it?

Between algorithms, Calder’s clouds and unreachable stars

They say that children have an amazing ability to simplify destiny; well, in my case, that clarity came in the fourth year of primary school. Whilst others were dreaming of toys, I had already given my future a first and last name: I wanted to study Computer Science at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). It wasn’t a whim; it was a goal set in stone.

The path seemed to have been mapped out by a perfect algorithm, as I managed to enter the ‘House that Defeats the Shadow’ through the front door, having chosen it as my first preference in the OPSU. I remember the euphoria of those first two semesters, the smell of the corridors in the Faculty of Science, and the feeling that the digital world lay at my feet. But life, at times, has system errors that we cannot reprogram.

Halfway through, my eyesight let me down. A partial retinal detachment forced me to take a break, a sabbatical year I spent in the shadows and in complete rest. On my return, the doctor’s verdict was a reality check, as I had to make a decision... I pondered: continuing with Computer Science, with the screen time and visual strain it demanded, was a fast track to permanent blindness.

I had to recalculate my route, just like a satnav. The grief over the lost degree was real, but giving up was not an option. I enrolled in Mathematics, specialising in Numerical Analysis. It was four years of wrestling with abstractions, of straining my mind when my eyes grew tired. But I made it. Four years later, there I was, beneath Calder’s majestic Clouds in the Aula Magna, receiving my degree. I’d done it, even though the diploma didn’t say what that fourth-year pupil had imagined.

However, if I am honest and delve into the deepest corners of my childhood, there was another dream. One that I didn’t even dare to speak aloud because I knew it was ‘impossible’. I wanted to be a pilot, or better still, an astronaut. I wanted to conquer the skies and the stars.

Sometimes I wonder if my fascination with computing and mathematics was nothing more than an earthly consolation for someone who knew, from a very early age, that his visual impairment would never allow him to lift his feet off the ground. My eyesight prevented me from flying in a cockpit, but the UCV and numbers gave me other wings.

I didn’t become an astronaut, but I learnt to navigate the infinite world of mathematical functions. I didn’t become a pilot, but I managed to land my dreams in a reality which, though different from what I’d planned, fills me with pride. Growing up and living isn’t just about fulfilling the promises we made as children, but about having the courage to change the map when the path closes.

Hi! Everybody (friends), if you've made it this far, THANK YOU! You are welcome to participate; the link with all the information is below. But I also hope to read your comments in the reply box. Thank you for joining us in these waters of HIVE.