The Book Of Me: Prompt 38 --When I Grow Up I Want To Be


If you are not familiar with this wonderful project that was created by Julie Goucher of the Angler's Rest blog, please refer to this link: http://www.anglers-rest.net/book-of-me-written-by-you.html.

This week’s prompt is – When I grow up I want to be……..

Yes, what did you want to be?
What inspired you?
Did you become what you wanted to be or did you do something different?
-was that deliberate or simply the way things worked out?
Did you follow your childhood dream and it not be at all what you though?

I can't help but chuckle a bit. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I am trying to think back now to when I was a kid and what my dreams were then. What did I want to be?

I knew that I wanted to be a mother. That may sound corny to some of you who read this but it's the truth. As a kid, I loved the idea of taking care of someone and watching them grow.  I still feel the same way.  When I was little, I had a whole village of stuffed animals that I would feed, clothe and just in general take care of . There were fights to break up, weddings to plan and dinner to get on the table. All of this happening in one day no less. I would get lost in these activities it felt like for hours. They were my family. I just loved them.

I think for a hot minute, I thought about being a doctor. I got one of those Fisher Price doctor's kits when I was about 5 years old. That added just another layer of play with all those stuffed animals and dolls I had. Doctor Andrea to the rescue! Curer of common colds and broken limbs I became. When I entered 9th grade and learned I had to dissect a frog in biology class, my thoughts about becoming a doctor quickly changed to other things.

I thought of becoming a teacher but somehow in my mind I talked myself out of it. I know now that is my natural inclination. I think it is found somewhere on my DNA. You see, my great grandmother Ophelia was a school teacher. When my mother went to college, she had intentions of becoming a teacher. Lack of job opportunities steered her toward a career as a social worker. My mother's a natural teacher too. She has taught me so much and others. When I was little we were members of St Pascal's Baylon Church in Jamaica, NY. She would do readings at church service and I would just watch her. She just had this way about her that conveyed the message of what she was saying to each and everyone seated in front of her. It's in her DNA too that teaching thing. 

So somehow I talked myself out of it. I thought I should get a business degree and make lots of money and drive a silver BMW with black leather interior. I laugh to myself now as I write this. I mean what does that mean...absolutely nothing. I so don't care about what I drive these days as long as it gets me from point A to B. I just want to be happy and for my family to be happy. I want to enjoy the moment and laugh at silly things. I want to have quiet time to do absolutely nothing if I want or do ten billion things all at the same time. I want to write when and where the whim takes me. I want to be free of worrying about what other people think of me. I just want to be me.

I hope that when my kids start daydreaming about what they want to be when they grow up, that they are more in tune to listening to their inner voice and choose the direction that their natural heart points them in.  In the end, I just want them to be happy.


Comments

  1. You are so right about that BMW with black leather seats :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a beautiful post! Thank you for sharing it, teacher you may be but you also have a knack for writing!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Kathy for your sweet comment! I do like writing and did when I was in high school. I wrote more poetry then.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's Been A Long Time

Amanuensis Monday: Charity Ambrose Deed to Mt. Olive Methodist Church

Pink Invitational 2020