When I grow up...

Adults always ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. I wonder how many actually do become what they'd wanted to be when they were 4 or 5 years old? I think there'd be a surplus firemen and ballerinas. :)

As far as I can remember, the first thing I ever wanted to be was a teacher, probably 6-7 years old. And that is COMPLETELY hysterical to me now. I am not good at teaching anyone anything. There have been times I've been asked to teach and explain..like in dance class, or crafting and scrapbooking, even in writing, and I just do not possess the ability to explain how I do things. I just do them. My daughter is only in 3rd grade and already I am having a real hard time trying to teach her and help her with homework. And I have very little patience. I could never ever home school. I think I would go completely insane. IMHO, teachers go through a lot of schooling...in NY state all teachers need a masters degree...and I just can't see how I would ever be able to do as good a job as the professionals. But huge kudos to those that do home school, though!

Anyway....

I remember later on, like 11-12, when I was just starting to play with makeup and stuff. I'd wanted to be a cosmetologist. I'd wanted to do everything: hair, nails, makeup, the works. Years later, after I was in high school, I found out there was a high school in my city with a cosmetology vocational program. I'd wished I'd known about it before choosing my high school. But knowing what I know now about myself, I'm not sure I would have been happy doing that either. I have no patience for my own hair now. But I do enjoy putting on makeup.

When I was in 8th grade, I had to choose which high school to go to. In my city, each area has it's district school...the one you went to if you didn't get into one of the good schools. But no one really wanted to go to them. You had to apply to the better schools and hope you got in. I knew which school I wanted to go to....but it was a vocational school and I had to pick what vocation to apply to. I remember going to Open House and touring the greenhouses. It seemed like fun. So I applied for Horticulture. And got in. I really did enjoy it, but it wasn't until my junior year that I decided I did want a career in horticulture. I wanted to be a floral designer.

But then my senior year came and I became the reporter for our FFA chapter. (I lived in a city, so there wasn't any actual farming going on, but we did many of the other FFA things like floriculture and such.) I wrote articles for local newspapers and I liked seeing my name and words in print. I applied to two colleges, one for Floriculture Merchandising (a program designed for those who wanted to own and operate a flower shop) and Journalism.  I got into both programs. I chose floriculture, probably because it was more familiar. I worked in the floral industry for almost 14 years before leaving it to pursue my dreams of publication in novel-length fiction.

Funny what you used to want and where you actually turn out and the different paths you take to get there.