"What’s a ‘short wave trough’ in meteorological terms?” It hit 100º here on Wednesday. I was curious what was causing it, so I texted my dad.
This randomness is for him.
When I think about my career and becoming a manager, my dad always comes to mind. Not because he was a manager, but because he wasn’t. I may embellish his story some out of love for my dad. From what I recall, he was asked a bunch of times over the years if he wanted to move into management. He was a damn good meteorologist, so there were folks at the National Weather Service who thought he’d make a damn good boss.
Except he loved forecasting weather and didn’t want to deal with (as he may have put it, the credibility of my memory notwithstanding), “people problems.”
Whether or not I think he would have made a great boss isn’t the point. The fact that he was intentional with his decisions and committed to what he loved doing is. There aren’t a lot of stories out there of folks saying ‘no’ to which something most of us say ‘yes.’ Of those few, even fewer are celebrated. Despite being a management coach, part of what I do is sharing my dad’s story that it’s okay to not be a manager. It’s not the only path up, and certainly not the only path to happiness.
“A short wave is a trough of lower pressure and is shorter than 3500 miles. The 120 hour forecast shows a long wave extending from Alaska southward off the Pacific coast down to near San Diego. At the 72 hour forecast, a short wave is off the British Columbia coast. This is the system that will bring you much cooler air.”
Hmm, interesting. Yeah, I’m glad he forecasted weather all those years (and I didn’t say ‘just’ forecasted weather!). Especially since I can still ask him, now retired, geeky weather questions and he can teach me some really cool stuff.
