Sunday, September 18, 2005

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Another weekend. Another Scalzi's weekend assignment. Extra credit: What did your parents want you to be?

Around seven or eight years old, I comforted some little kid who fell down and went boom. As if saying "Oh, did you hurt your boo boo?" meant I had found my calling as a nurse. Could it be that my mother was a nurse and I just had no imagination? My dad was a doctor. But the skull he kept in a bag in the car freaked me out, so being a doc was out of the question.

I was on a nurse kick until I began to realize that nurses were doctors' servants, not partners. I had a real issue with the lack of respect and how quickly I could get fired for my tendency toward insubordination [an early character flaw that continues to this day].

Being a medical handmaiden was never going to be my strong suit.

Model, actor, reporter were other professions I played at during grade school, high school, and college, but never pursued except as avocations.

My mother was the one who noticed that writing and performing in high school and college shows was something I could do in advertising.  I was appalled that she even suggested it.  You can't win a Nobel Prize in advertising I said!

Clearly I was delusional. Without missing a beat, my mother managed keep a straight face and point out that I could make money in advertising. And worry about the Nobel Prize at a later date. Oh.

Ha.

She was right. About the advertising.


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting did not know that about you:)

Deb

Anonymous said...

You are so right about nurses being "medical handmaidens".  It's hard to deal with some days, but then you just hold your head up and consider the source....doctors.  Hmmm.

http://journals.aol.com/LadeeoftheWorld/PossumsPrepareforBattle

Anonymous said...

My motther said I should marry well and work part time at Clinique, IF I wanted to.  <sigh>

xoxoxo,
andi

Anonymous said...

I never imagined being anything but a teacher, after I got over the superhero kick...hey , they are one and the same!
Marti

Anonymous said...

I always wanted to be a nurse, actress, singer, or rich as a child

Anonymous said...

lol my mother told me I'd be a writer when I was five... I write but I don't want to BE a writer lol She was half right.

~Lily

Anonymous said...

Mrs. L
After I started reading your blog for a while and realized you were in advertising, I thought to myself that that really fits you.  It's interesting how different our adult lives are compared to what we THOUGHT we wanted to be as we were growing up.  I was always going to be a pilot, I thought.  I started to wear glasses in Junior High and those dreams were dashed.  I wear contact lenses now.
Sam

Anonymous said...

At least they wanted you to have a career! That was pretty forward thinking for the mindset of our generation.
xoxo

Anonymous said...

I still dont know what i can be .....plenty of things i want to be mind you x

Anonymous said...

In my formative years, girls were allowed to be nurses, teachers or ballerinas. I can't stand the sight of blood, have no patience for stupidity and my feet are too small. So, where does that leave me? The comedy circuit?