Something on another thread got me thinking this might be a fun thread. What did we all want to be when we grew up? Has it turned out that way? For better or worse?
I went through, in order, wanting to be a magician, a back up dancer, and a lawyer.
I am none of those things, but my life is also better than I ever realistically expected it could be.
Ever since I was three, I wanted to be an artist.
And I am.
Now ask me if that’s how I make any money, and that’s a whole different conversation…
I wanted to be an astronaut, my dad said I’d be disqualified for having one lobe of one of my lungs missing (it was cystified and taken out as an infant).
He had a way of discouraging everything, so I’m sometimes amazed I’m doing anything at all. I’ve pretty much surpassed all goals from when I left the house, but it’s not all honky dory because sometimes those goals weren’t what I should have been shooting for.
Oh, I forgot that one! Me, too. That’s the only one I stuck with. And I am, but don’t try to make money at it.
You are, too, iirc. Kudos!
Doh, posts crossing in the night. I owe you a coke.
Ditto. Astronaut. I’ve made things that have gone into space, but that doesn’t really scratch the itch
One of my brothers knew that he wanted to be a lawyer since he was 12. Our close family friend/attorney must have been his inspiration.
On the other hand, I wanted to be an astronaut, a smoke jumper, a librarian, an actor, a veterinarian, and a ballerina—all by the time I turned 13. I remember hitting high school and I suddenly had no idea what I wanted to do. For awhile I thought maybe forestry, but that moment passed when I finally started college and I decided to major in poli sci. I never really did anything with that particular degree.
I also wanted to be a vagabond or hobo, success on both fronts. For a time.
I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.
I turned 65 yesterday.
Can relate. Nowadays the answer might be, “ambulatory.”
Astronaut, but I was disavowed of that notion quickly when I started wearing eyeglasses at the age of 8 and ended up with Coke-bottle spectacles by the time I was 14. At least I got to see Shuttle astronauts a couple of times a year at our company. Pep talks to the engine makers!
I wanted to be a lawyer, a prosecutor and a judge, in that order.
But law school is expensive…
I Aá´Ť.
From the moment my grandmother got sick and we started to lose the family farm trying to keep her alive, I wanted to be a farmer. I am now. But getting there meant I had to be a janitor, then construction worker, then the first person in my family to graduate high school, then a paramedic, then private detective, and finally a psychologist before I could actually afford to buy a farm of my own. It was a weird journey but I’ve got a lot of fun stories saved up.
65 is the new 45… at least that’s sort of what I heard… maybe… I think. …Happy belated Birthday!
Writer… I guess I do that, but also, I’m not sure I doing it as well as I could or as much as I would like… And I’m a historian, so… that’s a bit different than just an author writing like novels and such like.
Thank you very much. I don’t know about the new 45 but I’m still here, that’ll do for now.
Says the humble published author!
But I know what you mean, kind of. It’s not what you maybe imagined.
I don’t think any of them are, though. Childhood visions of avocations, I mean.