"When I grow up, I'm going to be..."

Nothing specific. Could have been retail butcher but knew anything done day after day would bore me. With that as a guideline my life has not been boring by being tied down to a career in anything.
 

Dave03 said:
I wanted to be a garbage man. Specifically, a black garbage man. (There were no white garbage men in our neighborhood, therefore, I believed you had to be black to be a garbage man.)

I mean, c'mon! You got to ride on the back of a big truck, wearing cool gloves, have a cigar hanging out of your mouth, and use that big smasher thing that crushed the garbage. What kid wouldn't want to do that?
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Right! One year my son asked a department store Santa Claus for a garbage truck and Santa looked at me like I must be an abusive mother of some kind.
 
Dave03 said:
I mean, c'mon! You got to ride on the back of a big truck, wearing cool gloves, have a cigar hanging out of your mouth, and use that big smasher thing that crushed the garbage. What kid wouldn't want to do that?
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Only a kid who was fascinated with the firemen's big fire engine, their jackets & helmets, also the truck's siren sometimes. 🤷‍♂️
 

Around age eight I wanted to be a ballerina. Because I thought they danced with their toes curled under in their ballet slippers one day I painfully stood with my toes curled under. Success! I said, "Look mother!" She just smiled a little and I got off my toes never to try that again. I think the pressure on my big toes caused a joint expansion that may have increased the length of my big toes.
 
I thought of becoming a fashion illustrator as a way to have a career in art. There was a woman who did the illustrations for Lord and Taylor that appeared in the NY Times. I admired her work and even met her in an elevator once while job hunting with a friend. She was encouraging but soon after they switched to photographs for the fashion ads.

The opportunity came up to be trained as a weather analyst and I grabbed it. I later worked for a wall design center in CT and the design department for a company making art kits in GA. Most of my art has been freelance.
 
At first, I wanted to be an interior decorator. My mother had beautiful books covering all the historical furniture styles. I studied those very carefully.
Then when I was 10 years old, we were studying Ancient Greece in school. My mother took us to Greece for the first time. I fell in love in the country, its people, and its history. The National Archaeological Museum in Athens fascinated me. Therefore, I decided that I wanted to become an archeologist but I never made it. Instead, I became a travel agent and later worked for an airline company.
 
I didn’t know for sure, except that I was going somewhere to college. In November of my senior year, the Guidance Counselor called me to his office and asked what I had planned for after graduation. He thought that with my grades and athleticism, I should try to get into the Naval Academy. He told me what I should be doing and I followed his advice. After 2 meetings, my district congressman said he would nominate me for a position. Just before Easter that year, I received a letter stating I was going to be offered a scholarship at the Naval Academy. I had to accept their offer by May15.

That led to a 30 year career in the Marines. I got to see the world.
 
After I'd take a broken clock or machine apart, I'd later draw how the pieces would fit together.
I showed my dad and he said I would probably be a very good Architect or Machine draftsman.

Later, in the Air Force, I was intrigue by 'Tech Orders'.
These are Precise steps you needed to follow when working on Aircraft and other sensitive equipment.

Still love to see how things go together and the steps they need to run properly.
As I've stated before on this forum, I would rather deal with a problem machine than most people
I've met...

Probably why I still buy broken watches and try to bring them back to life.
 
At both my schools, the primary and then the secondry, back then the secondry was known as a grammar school. At both schools I noticed that the headteacher ruled with assertion, even the teachers were wary of the headmaster.
Teaching didn't appeal, but being in charge did. My father told me to think about going into politics, "You get to kick arse in politics," he joked. What I did was to study Business Management at college. After graduating and joining one of the UK's prestigious companies, I climbed the greasy pole. (That's a Brit-speak euphamism for promotion.) I made it to head honcho........................................................and I got to kick arse!
 
They asked us to post our aspirations for under our yearbook pictures. Mine was Artist, Musician, Singer. I guess in a way I accomplished at least one of those. I became a composer and self produced recording artist after retirement. I'm not a performing musician, but have released two albums and three singles that are being streamed and downloaded globally via all the major platforms. The first was in 2003 and after a long hiatus, I released three singles in 2020 and my latest album in November of last year.

I've done some charcoal drawings beginning when I had major surgery in 1989. They've never been displayed publicly but I did sell the one I drew of Miles Davis. I sang on stage in high school twice as part of girl groups. I always wanted to sing back up, not lead. After singing in choirs and having choir directors change me from soprano to alto, my voice is no longer what it used to be. It was nice to find out that some of my classmates did achieve their stated goals.
 
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I wanted to be so many things! I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I went to college and during the program became interested in special education and switched majors. I worked with mentally retarded adults for a few years and then I wanted to work in a veterinary hospital so I went back to school and became a veterinary technician and assistant.
I was a makeup artist for awhile
Then I went back to school again for nursing but never worked as a nurse as I adopted 2 babies and stayed home. My son has special needs.
I regret that I never had a lasting career.
 
I wanted to be an architect and was sketching house plans at 9 years old. I actually went through all the courses in Jr College (drafting, art, etc.) and made good grades but the last course, which was more abstract, had me flunking out. I'm not an abstract thinker. I went to my professor and told him I was leaving. I later went to college and graduated with a degree in Business Administration.

My father was a financial advisor and wanted me to take over some of his accounts as he got older. I interviewed with Dean Witter and failed miserably. They put me in a room and had random callers call me with various situations... market's up, market's down, etc. I knew nothing about the stock market and my Dad's boss basically told me I was pathetic at selling anything.

Through a series of events, I ended up in the cruise industry. My father was elated because it was a fun industry and he and my mother got to travel frequently. Ironically, I was VP of Sales when I retired. I've gotten to travel all over the world so although I could have made more as an architect I have no regrets.

I will say this. I think we should do a better job as a society of helping kids figure out what their skills are and guide them in the direction so they are happy and successful in their careers.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
They asked us to post our aspirations for under our yearbook pictures. Mine was Artist, Musician, Singer. I guess in a way I accomplished at least one of those. I became a composer and self produced recording artist after retirement. I'm not a performing musician, but have released two albums and three singles that are being streamed and downloaded globally via all the major platforms. The first was in 2003 and after a long hiatus, I released three singles in 2020 and my latest album in November of last year.

I've done some charcoal drawings beginning when I had major surgery in 1989. They've never been displayed publicly but I did sell the one I drew of Miles Davis. I sang on stage in high school twice as part of girl groups. I always wanted to sing back up, not lead. After singing in choirs and having choir directors change me from soprano to alto, my voice is no longer what it used to be. It was nice to find out that some of my classmates did achieve their stated goals.
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Thanks for your exciting story. You did well and you brought back a memory of my singing on stage in a quartet in 8th grade. We sang Harbor Lights and A Penny a Kiss.
 
I was a kid during WW2. There were 2 factories that built fighter planes in the area. I wanted to fly. Once, many years later I got to take the controls of a single engine civilian plane but that was it. I flew many miles on airliners, but strictly as a passenger.
 
MaidMarian said:
Then I went back to school again for nursing but never worked as a nurse as I adopted 2 babies and stayed home. My son has special needs.
I regret that I never had a lasting career.
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You have nothing to regret, we should all honour and celebrate the incredible mothers of special needs children. Your love knows no bounds, your strength no limits, and your dedication is truly awe-inspiring. You humble me with your love of less fortunate children, to you I would say:

Thank you for your unwavering love and devotion, your endless patience and understanding, for being the voice for your child when they can’t speak for themselves. For your strength, your resilience, and your unwavering determination.

Thank you for showing us what unconditional love truly looks like. I salute you and celebrate all that you do. You are an inspiration to us all, and your children are blessed to have you as their mother.
 
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