I and I believe all my siblings chose our own career paths. Since I'm the only one of the six still living I can't confirm that as fact. I initially went to college (paid my own way) and got a General Business degree. I then promptly got drafted into the Army and sent to Vietnam serving as an Artillery Forward Observer.
About half way through my tour, Mom sent me a copy of the Sunday Kansas City Star newspaper along with a few goodies. All such things were always shared with those around you. We read every single page, hungry for any scrap of feeling like we were home or would eventually get there again. I perused the want ads looking at jobs. It was readily apparent that Accountants were in demand and the advertised starting salaries looked good.
As soon as I got back to the world, that's what we called it, I started my search for a good college that I could afford on the GI Bill and enrolled selecting Accounting as a my major. The General Business degree wasn't going to take me far, and Accountants were still getting good jobs. That worked out us and I spent 44 years in that career area starting out as a cost accountant for a major manufacturing corporation. Headhunters and a lot of luck took me the direction I wanted to go. The last 18 years of my career I was the CFO with a corner office. Most of all it allowed me to take care of my family and afford a better education for each of our four children.
These days I see my children involved in the lives of their children helping them make good education and career decisions, not controlling, helping.
