Tuesday, March 22, 2011

When I Grow Up...

Recently, my daughter had Career Day at her school. You know the day. The kids dress up as who they want to be when they grow up. Once I explained to my daughter that being a princess was not a day job and that she already was our little princess, she chose to go as a teacher. Suddenly, I was transported back to that time *garble garble* years ago when I used to play “school”. I created attendance sheets, grade books and homework for my stuffed animals/students. I’d scold Raggedy Andy for not turning his assignments in or give Laura Jane, the Cabbage Patch Kid, an “F” for on her spelling test. *sigh* Good times… Career Day started me thinking. What did I dream about being when I grew up? The decisions changed with every hairstyle and fashion fau paux it seems. Topping the list were:


1.Rock star: This had more to do with my wanting to be Donnie Wahlburg’s girlfriend then making quality music for the masses. But I did take electric guitar lessons for a summer. Then I realized how hard playing the guitar was…Lawd!...and decided, along with my sister and best friend, to be the female version of New Kids on the Block.

2.A lawyer: Waaay too much school. When I figured out you can’t commit the bar exam to short term memory and pass like the Biology 101 test, I moved on to another aspiration.

3.A nun: I knooow. How ironic is that?? *snicker* In my defense, I went to Catholic schools through the tenth grade…yeah, that’s all the defense I have…moving on…

4.Dear Abby: I admit it…I am extremely nosey. I want to know why, when, how and what did it look like. So to get paid for people telling me all this? And me giving my vaulted opinion back?? A win/win dream job. Who knew they actually wanted you to have experience and a degree for this sort of thing?

5.A choreographer: My Paula Abdul phase. I knew how to do the Cabbage Patch, the Running Man and the Mike Tyson. What more did I need to be the most premier choreographer out there? Classical training? Meh. Julliard? Bah. Amateurs…

You’ll notice that an author was not on my list. That started me thinking. I’ve always written romance stories—and I say stories because I almost never finished!—but never considered growing up to be an author. To me, that was a pipe dream, not being the next Pat Benatar or Paula Abdul or Sister Mary Francis. And do you know what’s even funnier? As an author, through my characters, I can experience the lives of all of the above. How awesome is that? God, I love this job!

Dish on your childhood dreams! C'mon! I won't laugh...much...

12 comments:

Michelle Polaris said...

Love this, Naima! I was going to be a paleontologist in second grade. I have no clue where this came from. But I also wanted to be a poet, a choreographer, and Captain Kirk's wife (also not an actual job, but those distinctions sure do get blurred-grin). In the end, though, I did want to be a fantasy writer. So sometimes dreams do come true.

Anya S. Winter said...

i wanted to teach in Africa but became a pastors wife turned secretary turned erotic romance writer. Go figure ;)

Wynter said...

Too funny! I used to alternate between wanting to be an archeologist (I still love ancient ruins) and the president of a large corporation. You couldn't pay me enough to run a company today! I agree - romance writer is the most awesome job (as I sit at the computer in my jammies!)

Dalton Diaz said...

I'm still figuring it out.

Dalton Diaz said...

I'm still figuring it out.

Cara McKenna said...

Great topic, Naima! A nun? Bwah ha ha ha ha!

I, like so many of my peers in the nouveau-enviromentalist early 1990s, wanted desperately to be a marine biologist. I did later end up volunteering for many years in the New England Aquarium's Penguin Husbandry department…though mainly with the goal of cuddling the birds, preserving the species merely being a happy byproduct of that abuse.

I also really wanted to be a spy, because I was obsessed with both Inspector Gadget and the reruns of Get Smart played every Tuesday on Nick at Night when I was about eight. I would even hide in the closet laundry basket for hours, observing my family as they walked by and, occasionally, tossed their dirty clothes on me.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Michelle!
A paleontologist? That's pretty cool! But not half as cool as Captain Kirk's wife! LOL! You know, my sister wanted to be John Elway's wife. She actually made a chart of her daily/weekly schedule of her activities as his wife and mother of his children...and she presented this to our class. Apron and everything. She's now teaching our next generation...hee-hee!

Anonymous said...

Hey, Anya!
Umm...wow! LOL! That is quite a list there. I think you may have upped my nun dream...niiice.

Anonymous said...

Hey! I wanted to be an archeologist at one time. Very short. During my Indiana Jones phase when he made it hot! Gave up on that, but I still would love to go to Italy or Greece and see all those ancient ruins! But yeah, romance writer--the best deal ever!

Anonymous said...

LOL! Dalton! I already have it figured out for you. You're awesome! LOL! Blatant brown-nosing there, yes...hee-hee!

Anonymous said...

Cara, I am dying!! My mental images are all filled with you hiding in the laundry basket and it's making me weak!! That is HILARIOUS!!! I watched Inspector Gadget every afternoon at 2 pm. Do you remember Harriet the Spy? I loved that book!

I wanted to be a mermaid, too. Does that count as far as marine biology? No? Nuts...

Cara Bristol said...

My list includes: teacher, interior decorator, private investigator, and biologist. What I actually ended up becoming was a newspaper reporter. But all my early career considerations have expressed themselves in some way in my life!