Did your parents detonate your childhood dreams? Or just adult all over them?
Seven-year-old Christa Funk returned home from the aquarium with tales of blue ringed octopus and dancing dolphins. Despite growing up more than 1,000 km from the nearest ocean – a hair West of the American mid-West, in Grand Junction, Colorado –, she knew then that the ocean was the place for her. Like most of us, she resolved to be a marine biologist.
Later that week, her dad, pharmacist Bob Funk, thought he was dropping a truth bomb by sharing the projected salary for his youngest daughter’s prospective field of study.
1998 Salary Projections:
Marine Biologist (with PhD): $40,000 McDonald’s Store Manager: $55,000
In fact, seven-year-old Christa Funk was not perturbed by these statistics. It sounded like a helluva lot of money to her.
Ultimately, Christa did get a degree in marine biology. But she also pushed into far more harrowing territory than simply committing to a below-living-wage career.
Yes, this Coloradan became one of the crazies to bob and buoy in the heaviest surfing lineups in the world – on the heaviest of days. She’s a staple photographer at Pipeline, putting her body on the line for the chance of crystallising
