When I Grow Up

{{A response to Hannah's post.}}

  When I was little at my preschool graduation, one of my teachers stuck a microphone in front of my mouth and asked me the question, "Carolyn, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

  I graciously took the microphone out of her hands and loudly proclaimed, "I wanna be a mermaid!"

  I heard the adult's quiet laughter in the room, but I just smiled as the clapping echoed through the church {the school was basically part of a church} and walked towards the stage where the rest of my classmates were standing.  None of them found it odd, rather normal, actually.  Still, everyone else said pretty stereotypical children's occupations, a ballerina, a police, a fire fighter, a teacher, but a mermaid was my dream.

 A few years later, new town, new school, my last year of preschool.  I wanted to be a veterinarian.  Little did I know that I had to do a lot of things with animals that I wouldn't be able to stand.  That dream faded away quickly.

  In kindergarten, my friend and I planned on growing up and doing all the same things.  We had who we were going to marry planned out, our kids' names, and our jobs.  We'd live in the same town and do the exact same thing.  When my dream job changed, hers did, too.

  Our first dream job was going to Iraq to serve in the military.  Not exactly a normal kindergarten girl's biggest wish, right?  Well, her dad was in the war at the time, so we wanted to be like him.

  Next we wanted to work at Shamu.  Our other friend had this dream, so we decided to copy her.  Again, DEFINITELY not a normal dream.

  Finally, we decided to choose our own jobs.  She wanted to be a ballerina and I decided to be a teacher, and let me tell you, I wanted to be a teacher for a long time, on and off whenever I started enjoying something else.

  In second grade my friend and I wanted to be masseuses together.  You know, the people who gave massages?  Yeah, that was our career choice up until third grade.  It quickly went back to a teacher, though, for quite a long while.

  Finally, just last year, my ideas started changing immensely.  I wanted to do something with dance.  Something with dance really bad!  So I decided I wanted to be a professional dancer.

  Later I decided I might not want to spend so much time away while being a professional dancer, so I changed my ideas to a dance teacher.  The thought had always been in my mind, but I was thinking there must be something cooler out there.

  I personally want to still be a dance teacher, but I'm not sure if that's what will happen.  For sure I want to be an author.  When I write, I can express myself so well, and it's not something I really have to think about.  The words flow from my pencil on to the white paper, or from my fingers on to the blank screen.  This is the reason I love blogging so much.

  Just lately I haven't been so sure what my job will be, probably because my mom and I were talking about what we think my job will be, and she wasn't so sure.  It made me less certain of what I wanted to be, but I don't need to worry about it quite yet, I have time, and God at my side.

~~Caro