what will i be?

Last summer we found an incredible lot of vintage books at an estate sale. Would you believe that we are just now getting around to looking through them? Awful, I know, but there is no shortage of vintage to ponder in our house and sometimes things sit for a while before we get to them.

Jorn and I were reading through this book last night. At first I was just drawn to the illustrations. Greg and I don't ever ask the kids what they want to be when they grow up, I kind of really dislike the question. The kids do a great job of offering that information on their own, they never need to be asked. It's fun to imagine yourself in different roles, or in this case professions, and imagine what a life like that might be like. Jorn really enjoyed reading the book and it was exciting to identify the "professions" that I have held or hold. His eyes really lit up when we got to Farmer and Homemaker, he had never thought of being 'mommy' as a profession! We were happily surprised to encounter Ice Cream Maker too (see that mom and dad, it was a profession!). And, just before I got pregnant with Jorn I had taken and passed the NY State Trooper exam. I was on my way to Police Academy when I found out that I was pregnant so I decided not to go forward with it which is a really good thing in retrospect for obvious reasons, but my intention was to be a Mounted Trooper in the state park system.

What was really interesting was the lack of Greg's jobs. There was no IT consultant, project manager or anything or the sort and since college that is the (professional) world that Greg has basically dwelt in. I found myself wondering how this book would look if it was written now. Do they even write books like this for kids anymore? Maybe these would take some of the places...

A: App developer

B: Blogger

I: IT manager

N: Nanotechnologist

W: Web developer

Later, I found my childhood memory book that my mom had given to me a few years ago. In the book it asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I answered, 'homemaker' and 'the first female player on an all male polo team'. I got the first one down pat and the latter is kind of like being a Mounted State Trooper, right?  So there you go.

So, what did you want to be when you grew up? Are you that? Do you wish you were if you weren't? Do you think 'professions' are a thing of the past? Are you grown up yet? ;) Do tell.

Comments

[Bonnie]

I wanted to be a Registered Nurse. I became one, worked for awhile, then"retired" when my children came along. Little did I know that my profession then would prepare me for my profession now. I think that if we just do the best we can, new opportunities come, even if they are not what we planned on originally. Sometimes they are better than we dreamed.

[Dahlia]

I wanted to be a pastry chef. I am now a chef, and have done brief stints in the pastry section. It is almost as good as I thought it would be, and very much lots of hard labour.
It finally dawned on me that all those years I thought I hated all the odd jobs I did to pay for school, when in truth I just dislike working for others. I am too independent and stubborn to work for employers, and I need to fly solo.
I am now trying to figure out how to make a living from all my combined passions, without killing myself with overwork, and still have a social life.

[KC]

I've wanted to be a lot of different things, though homemaker never seemed to be one of them. Though it is certainly the best job I could ever ask for.
When I was very small I wanted to be a CEO. Of what I don't know. I just wanted a desk and a room with a view really high up in the air. Then I wanted to be a marine biologist. This was because I visited my grandparents in Florida every Christmas. As I grew older I wanted to do more humanitarian things like work for the Peace Corps.
I eventually became and traveler/photographer. But now I am a wife/mom/homemaker/farmer. I guess in a way I became a CEO of of my house....:)

[keana]

I wanted to be an oceanographer....later I found out on a trip to St. Lucia in an attempt to go diving that I was also claustrophobic & only made it 10 feet down, it's good to have dreams....even if your body will not let you fulfill them.

[Suzanne]

I have held so many jobs, from governess, to bank examiner, to rural mail carrier, to homemaker, to home school teacher, to farmer... I always had a burning desire to live off my own land, even when holding my professional jobs in the city. Now I am here and it's right where I want to be. My husband has had all kinds of "alternative" jobs. Massage therapist, assistant to a homeopathic physician, deejay, and now farmer. Plus both of us are "nursing home" to my elderly F-I-L, who lives with us. My husband told my kids that "mom used to be a 'bank cop'" and they suddenly conjured images of me being a police officer with a gun and badge and such, going into banks and laying down the law! We both wear so many hats, I don't know where we'd fit into a book today...

[heyjenrenee]

love this! (and I love thinking about a modern day list, too.) I always wanted to be an artist and I guess being a graphic designer fits into that category. (knitting too!) and I'm always telling my kiddo that 'dad works in an office and mom works at home' and I try not to downplay being a stay-at-home mom (or say things like 'oh, i just stay at home') because we all know there's so much more to it than that! it's work, too. and i love it.

[Joy]

Great questions here... when I was a child, I was asked if I wanted to go to college when I grew up, and I would say, "No, I want to stay home and jump rope..." Well, I went to college---four of them, in fact, but of all the things I've done, I feel being a mother and wife was the most important. Now I find that I'm doing something that I wanted to do when I was 14 years old... write. Somehow, along the way, that got lost. (I do lots of other things too.) Even though your State Trooper ambition is currently on the back burner, it seems as if you are quite fulfilled.

[coffee & morphine]

US Forest Service!! :) (8 years old)

[Kevin Porter]

I love it too. I think it's really important to think outside the box and do what makes you happy. I would much rather go to a different job every single day of the week and fulfill all my dreams... Well done team!