Childhood Ambitions

How do people decide stuff like, "gee I want to be an accountant or a high school superintendant?" How on earth did I end up with a masters degree in interprofessional health and human service administration? I was sitting on my porch swing this morning letting the dogs do their thing, when I began to think about the things I used to want to be when I grew up. Do you ever wonder what the child version of yourself would think about how you've ended up?

Once upon a time I had some really "high and lofty aspirations" I remember when I was little I wanted to work at Sam's or Sonic and wear roller skates when I grew up. That should start dating things for you, yep we're talking 1980s. I remember this one woman who used to work at our Sam's that had what I thought was a really pretty perm and some really cool white and pink roller skates. Anytime someone needed a price check at a register, off she'd fly. My cousins and I used to play Sam's skater in the garage. We'd gather up some stuff from the house, and strategically put it all over the place, and then we'd see who was the best Sam's skater. I guess someone filed a lawsuit, and put an end to that career. I'm glad Sonic has brought back the roller skates, even though the first few weeks they were doing it here this spring there were a few busts, and it was pretty obvious most of the car hops hadn't touched a pair of roller skates in over a decade, maybe two.

The other job that I thought would be really cool was making pizzas. One time when we were in kindergarten Emily Burns-King's dad, Dr. Burns came to school for some sort of show and tell day, and made pizzas because that was how he worked his way through school, then the did a quick physical on everyone. I couldn't understand for the life of me what would make him decide to abandon the fine art of pizza making, and be a pediatrician (those people give kids shots, and shots were NO fun). Everyone was much more excited about the pizza making, he even threw the dough up in the air, which made him the uncontested coolest parent in kindergarten. My dad used to be a full service gas station attendant, then he worked in a lumber yard so I could understand why he decided to be a doctor, but I remembered thinking Dr. Burns had made a mistake. LOL!!!

I have a feeling the childhood version of me would be really confused about how I've ended up, but the plus side is I do teach at a college, I have my own boards that no one else can write on, and I get to use dry erase markers A LOT! I even use different colored ones when I change topics. I guess that is how I'd have to explain my job to a bunch of kids in order to sound sort of cool. I'll have to keep these things in mind for when I have kids one day, especially if they decide to take me to show and tell.