Top Ten "When I Grow Up"

In the days when we attended kindergarten, ate milk and cookies, and hung paintings on the refrigerator, a popular question for us was, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

My current occupation is not one in which, looking back, I would have necessarily accurately predicted. Furthermore, lately I have been revisiting the recurring childlike thought of, "I wish I could be that when I grow up."

My Top Ten Tuesday will be a combination of my childhood wish list and my current one.

1. Author
This roots back to early childhood. Ever since I could hold a pencil in my hand, I have been writing, writing, writing. I could be found at the kitchen table with those large pieces of white paper, scribbling all kinds of stories about cats, fish, rivers, and people. I also wrote poetry and songs. In fact, I may need to resurrect one of these old stories for another post sometime. Then, I learned to type. Oh, that was good. I taught myself the "two finger" method where I used my two pointer fingers and boy, was I speedy. Forget proper typing technique, I flew on that keyboard with my 2 fingers. I tapped away on those keys, writing stories about pets, animals, and friends. I used Lotus Notes, and I remember the blue background on the screen with the white courier text. Then, I would print off my stories onto the white printer paper with the perforated edges, and I would sit and tear off the ends. Anyway, I have always enjoyed writing and honestly thought that someday, I would go on to write books. In grade school, I entered my books into the Young Author's competition and won 3 years in a row for either writing or illustration, attaining the "District Award" in 3rd grade for my book "Pretty Bird II." I was quite the little aspiring writer. My #1 goal in life is to publish a book someday, so it is still an option in my mind.

2. Radio Show Voice
At a relatively early age, I learned how to record to tape. I had my very own microphone that I hooked up to the sound system in my bedroom. From there, I recorded radio shows, meetings, songs, skits, and real life commentary. I loved it. I would get my friends and cousin in on it, and we would make radio talk shows with sound effects and music and everything. I also created these tapes for my cousin with special programs and commentary on them, and then I would give them to her to listen to as entertainment. She would always give me one in return, and we had a little radio show exchange going on for awhile.

As a little girl, I was very quiet and shy in school, but at home and around friends and family I was know as the "motor mouth" who wouldn't stop talking. I talked very fast and tended to "show off" (no, you would have never guessed!) and entertain. My family always jokingly said that I should go on talk radio.

Maybe I missed my calling?

3. Veterinarian
My best friend and I LOVED animals. We would find sick or injured animals all of the time in our neighborhood and care for them. We also had quite the animal cemetery going on in my backyard. Sometimes, if the animal didn't "make it," we would conduct a funeral ceremony. Anyway, we loved to learn about animals and had an "Animal Club." We also watched many informational programs on TV about animals and we would take notes about each animal we learned about in a binder that we created.

Since then, my love for animals has died down quite a bit, but I do still really love cats and birds. Other than that, I can't say that I am too attached to the whole "vet" idea.

4. Taste Tester
I have always wanted to be one of those people who they pay to come taste food. I don't know if they do it for research sometimes or just to see what is more well-liked, but if it's getting paid to eat, I'm in!

5. Illustrator
This was another childhood passion of mine. I used to draw all of the time. It went hand-in-hand with writing. All of my stories were illustrated. In fact, my love for drawing and creating became a fun hobby with my cousin in Jr. High when we used to draw comics and people all of the time in more of a "cartoon" style. We had a blast drawing pictures together, but I must say that after that phase my love of drawing slid to an all-time low. That is when the computer age took over my life and all of my hand-drawn tendencies faded away. Instead of drawing, I used Photoshop as a tool.

6. Actress
Another one that seemed to live out in my childhood. I used to be involved with plays but more than that, I was always so involved emotionally as a child. I was always into emotional experience. I can remember running across the alley barefoot or walking through the woods and pretending like I was in some sort of a movie. I was the actress, and the cameras were following me with music in the background. I have always "seen" movie scenes playing out in my head, especially when I can link them to real life, and most certainly when I hear music. Anyway, lately I have revisited the idea that acting is such an interesting concept. How does one take on the role of a character, and remain "real" and believable? It must take tremendous research, skill, and practice.

7. Gymnast
I was one of those kids who dreamed big. I could hardly pull of a cartwheel but I still thought that maybe I was going to the Olympics. I would watched gymnastics on TV and think, "Maybe if I practice REALLY hard." I took a handful of tumbling classes but I never did win a hand stand contest. It was a nice thought, but now that I have grown older, I see clearly that I was never cut out for such a sport. I tend to shy away from sports in general, and especially ones that require any sort of coordination and guts.

8. Meteorologist
Oh man, I loved the weather. I checked the weather section of the newspaper compulsively every day. I always knew the high and the low, and I was so interested in what was happening. Tornadoes and storms scared me to death, but I thought everything else was so fascinating.

9. Advertising
In Jr. High, we went through a "Career Week" and we had to establish the job we were interested in and have a mock interview according to our choice of occupation. I chose the field of advertising, seeing it as the closets pick to what I wanted at the time. It's interesting that I should end up in a job that requires a reasonable amount of expertise in that very field!

10. Christian
No matter what my job is on earth, one job that I will always have is to be a child of God. Regardless of my earthly occupation, the work of the Lord must be done. In all areas of my life, God gets the glory! I can look back over my childhood or even on this very day think: Now wouldn't it be great if I was that. Yet what could be a more important job than to be a child of the King, and to do the work of the Lord? In all reality, that is my only real job while here on earth. Occupation and career can come and go, and seems to be a pattern in the world. Some people may never even have a career or a job in their lifetime, whether due to health, lack of opportunity, or location. That puts it into perspective, and reminds us that whether we go to the office every day, live in a hut, or get married and have a family, our #1 job on earth is to spread the Truth and glorify God in all things.

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As a kid, I never wanted to be the typical "teacher or nurse." However, in reviewing my list, one theme does seem to stick out-- most of the probable choices fall within the "creative" and "artistic" categories, which makes me think that my current career of graphic design and photography seem to be a good fit!

What did you want to be "when you grew up?"

Love you all!

T