Day Ten -- When you were little, what occupation did you want to have when you "grew up"?

What a unique topic for today’s writing challenge.  It is so amazing to talk to children and ask them what they want to be when they grow up and listen to all the variety of occupations they come up with.  If they are like me, their list of occupational aspirations likely changes quite often.  I recall that my Mom had this school days book where you would list information about each school year (ie: teacher’s name, grade, field trips, etc.), but the neat thing to me about the book is that each year you selected what occupation you wanted to be.  Flipping back through that book a few of my entries remained continual, but then some years, I chose some off-the-wall occupation (ie: an artist – yeah, right!  I struggle to even draw a stick figure!)  The two selections that remained over the years are the two that I have chosen to use for this entry – a pilot and a news anchor. 

For whatever reason, I have always had a fascination with airplanes and flying.  So from a very early age, I decided that I either wanted to be a pilot or a flight attendant.  Prior to the security changes implemented after September 11^th, my Granddad would take me to the airport where we would walk the terminals and sit for hours watching planes.  When relatives would travel to see us, I always wanted to go to the airport to pick them up or drop them off.  One of the highlights of my life occurred on one of those airport visits when we were taking my Aunt Ruth to see her off to Massachusetts.  We went with her to the gate, and as I was sitting there with her, I was spying out the window at the plane before me.  Unbeknownst to me, one of the airline employees spotted me doing this and once they finished boarding the plane, she had a flight attendant escort me on to the plane for a tour.  The pilot and co-pilot invited me to come in the cockpit and have a look around, which ultimately meant I was awarded with “pilot wings” upon my departure from the aircraft.  That moment forever stayed with me and increased my desire to fly!   As I got older, it was mentioned to me that I would likely not be able to be a pilot due to my poor eyesight.  Needless to say, I was crushed, but it didn’t stop me from dreaming.  The funniest about all of my childhood aspirations of being a pilot was that I had never actually flown in a plane!!  I didn’t take my first commercial airline trip until after I had graduated from high school.  Nevertheless to this day when I step foot on to a plane, I still wish I had pursued that dream of being a pilot or a flight attendant.  There’s just something about soaring above it all!  (And, yes, somewhere in my collection of trinkets, I am sure I still have my numerous sets of pilot wings in addition to the awesome Mickey Mouse ears flight pin from Delta!)

In addition to being fascinated with flying the friendly skies, I was also fascinated by the friendly faces that invaded our homes nightly via the television screen – those faces of the local television news anchors.  I’m honestly not sure where the passion to become a broadcast journalist came from.  I assume just watching the news so much, it popped in to my little brain that I could do that.  I even did a career research paper in school on being a broadcast journalist. My ultimate career goal was to replace Katie Couric as the anchor of NBC’s Today Show.  Well this, Meredith didn’t, but another Meredith did! Ultimately, I wanted to be a local political correspondent, but back then, there wasn’t a lot that was politically motivating in the region of the country I grew up in, so the need was not necessary.  I ended up changing my major in college from Communications back to Government, and subsequently chose not to pursue that career path. As fate would have it, now, there is a whole branch in our region that is dedicated to following the General Assembly and local politics all the way up to the national level.   We just never know how time will change the need for varying items within our locale.

Throughout our life, we are going to have many different career goals and ambitions.  We may not ultimately pursue our goals and passions, and we may end up on a totally different path (kind of like I ended up!). But sometimes even as grown-ups, I think we still find ourselves asking “what do we want to be when we grow up?”  It seems to be a question that sticks with us and one that we can’t really shed.  May you continue to pursue the options that interest you, and if you find down the road, that you need to change the direction of your sails, then do so, what can it hurt to give something a new shot?   (Maybe I’m ultimately talking to myself at that!)  Who knows, maybe one day, I’ll decide to totally change career paths and maybe you will see me serving you something high in the sky!  Dream high, the sky is the limit!