Wednesday, January 19, 2011

When I Grow Up

Monster.com has a great commercial about what kids want to be when they grow up:


It made me think of what I wanted to be when I grew up:




I want to be a doctor. And to become a doctor, I want to go to a university in the middle of the Swiss Alps. And while I'm there, I want to have a horse, and I want to name it "Christian Warrior."





That about covered it - everything I could have possibly wanted in life at the age of innocence was summarized right there. Funny how when we don't know our limitations, we shoot for the stars.

So what got in the way? Life.

For one thing, I doubt there was a medical school in the middle of the Swiss Alps. But, hey, they looked pretty.



And besides, maybe I haven't made it to Switzerland (yet) but I have been to Wyoming.




Back when it came time to decide which educational path to take, I placed getting married and having children above getting a medical degree, and settled instead for the easier-to-attain business degree. (See what growing up did to me? Why not be a doctor AND a mom?)

The boyfriend was mine. The horse, my sister's.



And what about that horse named "Christian Warrior?" My sister must have wanted one more than I, because she was the one who ended up with a horse. She named  her "Sundae."

Close, but no cigar.




Thinking back to my childhood ponderings of "what-do-I-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up" makes me smile. In the mind of a child, the possibilities are limitless. It's a poignant fact of life that sometimes we let those possibilities diminish in our minds as we grow up. Disappointments. Life's challenges. Fear. Obstacles like those add bricks to a wall that we build around our dreams, until one day, they're no longer visible.

But now, at my age-that-shall-remain-unmentioned, I'm dreaming again. So . . . what do I want to be when I grow up? First of all, I've decided I don't think I really want to grow up after all. So, in my child mind, my possibilities are endless. And, it will surprise none of you to know:

I want to be a best-selling author. And I want to live on a beach where I'll open my window, so that when I write, I can listen to the whisper of waves coming in and going out as seagulls cry above them. And when I taste the salty sea breeze that blows through my window, I'll battle with the desire to write or to walk on the beach. But, writing will win, because after all, I'm a best-selling author.

What do YOU want to be?

5 comments:

  1. That little video fits right in with the short story I'm writing, "Dreams of Mediocrity."

    Don't expect it to be inspirational - funny perhaps, but not too motivational.

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  2. Oh boy, Russell. I can't wait to hear that one! So clever!

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  3. I should've been a cowgirl, an Indian, or a pioneer. Having missed that calling--when I grow up, I will rope and ride magnificent Mustangs; ply the Missouri River in a steamboat; and hop a train that crosses the vast Western prairie. I'll write myself into these adventures to the accolades of all my author friends, acquaintances, and movie moguls.

    Welllll, you did say what I "WANT" to be, right?

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  4. Okay, *everyone* says writers don't make lots of money. Well, that kind of sets us up to manifest that we won't make lots of money at what we love. So in my dream of what I will be when I grow up, I am going to be a published author who earns a comfortable living doing all the things I love: writing, painting, drawing, crafting (arts and herbal medicines), photography, and sharing.

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  5. @Palooski65 - Yay for you! Now that's what I call telling us what you want to be! (Besides, I want to be a cowgirl someday, too!)

    @Roxann - Kids don't listen to what "everyone" says, that's why they have such dreams. We can all learn a lesson from them, huh? I know you'll get there!

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