What do you want to be when you grow up?
As a kid, I had many answers to that question: a truck driver, a rodeo clown, an old-fashioned telephone operator, Lucille Ball...but when it came time for me to have a real answer, I came up with nothing. I wasn't one of those high school kids who automatically knew what they wanted to do with their lives, you know? I mean, I knew I wanted to live in New York, Paris, Chicago, Miami, London...any where but here, but I had no idea what I wanted to do once I got there.
I think it's unfair to expect an 18 year old kid to know what their passion will be for the next 50 years. I've always known I wanted to write, and I have disks full of short stories and book ideas, but I harbor no illusions that it is something I could ever do for a living. Well, okay, maybe I do, but only in the wee hours of the morning when you ponder the meaning of life and stuff. I write because I can't not write not because I expect any thing out of it. In high school, I didn't panic when I didn't know exactly what I wanted as a career, I always thought that the answer would come eventually. It just took longer than I thought it would.
Several years ago, I had an epiphany, and decided that I wanted to go into social work. So, last year, I started college (again) to finish my BA and have plans for my MA. I want to either work in Family Services or with Hospice. Not exactly the glamourous life I imagined as a teen, but I feel it in my soul: this is what I am meant to do. I want to make a difference in the world, help make someone's life better. It sounds trite, I know, but that doesn't make it any less true. (I volunteer at Hospice several times a week now and have a lovely nursing home patient named Peg. She isn't terminal, but she does suffer from Alzheimer's. Her husband lives in an apartment close by and he visits her daily and stays by her side from morning to night. It is incredible to see such love and devotion in a time when marriage, it seems, is so non-sacred to some.)
Not sure why I was thinking about this today; although it is nice to finally know what I want to be when I grow up.
I think it's unfair to expect an 18 year old kid to know what their passion will be for the next 50 years. I've always known I wanted to write, and I have disks full of short stories and book ideas, but I harbor no illusions that it is something I could ever do for a living. Well, okay, maybe I do, but only in the wee hours of the morning when you ponder the meaning of life and stuff. I write because I can't not write not because I expect any thing out of it. In high school, I didn't panic when I didn't know exactly what I wanted as a career, I always thought that the answer would come eventually. It just took longer than I thought it would.
Several years ago, I had an epiphany, and decided that I wanted to go into social work. So, last year, I started college (again) to finish my BA and have plans for my MA. I want to either work in Family Services or with Hospice. Not exactly the glamourous life I imagined as a teen, but I feel it in my soul: this is what I am meant to do. I want to make a difference in the world, help make someone's life better. It sounds trite, I know, but that doesn't make it any less true. (I volunteer at Hospice several times a week now and have a lovely nursing home patient named Peg. She isn't terminal, but she does suffer from Alzheimer's. Her husband lives in an apartment close by and he visits her daily and stays by her side from morning to night. It is incredible to see such love and devotion in a time when marriage, it seems, is so non-sacred to some.)
Not sure why I was thinking about this today; although it is nice to finally know what I want to be when I grow up.
posted by kcterrilynn at 2:07 PM
3 Comments:
i can't remember what my parents use to tell me what i wanted to be...
I wanted to be a late night radio DJ that would field calls from people having relationship issues so I could offer advice and play their requests, cheesy, but it would have kicked ass!
Well first, I wanted to be the boss of ALL of My Little Ponies. Then I wanted to be a Veterinarian. Then an Interior Designer. Now, I just want to be a world traveling photographer. Maybe in my next life, eh?
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