"When I Grow Up," How Close Did You Come?

[Lost Cause]

I wanted to be a soldier, policeman, or a fireman when I was little. Through growing up, I became a military police officer, got to shoot some fine weaponry, but the only fire I got close to I caused, and then some burning wreckage, and the smell of burnt people. Not exactly as I envisioned, but I had some exciting times I can't talk about! Now it looks like I'm turning that way again toward the homeland defense posture career market.

*How about you? How close did you come to what you wanted to be when you "Grew up?"

 

[Debbie]

When I grew up I wanted to be a nurse, an air hostess or a lawyer.
I didn't get close at all. Now I am aiming towards working with computers. When I finish studying.
I am a nurse in a way, just not qualified, to my kids.

 

[Angelus]

I came fairly close to what I wanted to be when I grew up..... I wanted to be a writer and although I haven't had my novel published yet- which I hope will happen I have had some of my short stories published in some local magazines.......

I just have to get my novel published now..... that's my big goal.

 

[intrigued]

About 50% of the way...all I ever wanted to be was a Mom and Wife, and so far, I am a very happy mom, just don't have the rest of the family.
Thank goodness I'm still growing up.

There are so many fascinating people here.

 

[Georgia Girl]

I wanted to be a flight attendent or a social worker.

Spent close to 4 yrs flying the friendly skies

In college now to finish out my degree in social work, of course it took me 35 yrs to get here.

All things are possible in time.

 

[T.H. Oughts]

I wanted to be a teacher but not the maths/english kind. I wanted to be an artist and writer...

I am all three.

 

[perks]

clown-my mom scared the fuck out of me with one, so there went that dream, plus I'm not aeordynamically suited to cartwheels.

missionary-enough said

librarian-I read a lot


not so lofty aspirations, I had a few other dreams down the line, but they were completely grandios and unrealistic.

 

[red_rose]

I was cleaning out my closet the last time I moved, and found a "memory box" from when I was younger.

In there, I found a piece of paper that gave me pause.

On it, I predicted that I would have graduated college by 2002 and have become a successful interior decorator by 2003.



Well... here I am, 22 years old in the year 2002... working for a transportation company and I've only got about two years of college under my belt.

Now, "when I grow up", I want to be a psychologist.

 

[mig]

I wanted to be a soldier.I was.

I wanted to be happy.Took a while but I made it.

 

[takingchances42]

Hmmmm... looking back on junior high and high school dreams, I never did:

1. Quarterback the winning team in the Super Bowl.
2. Become a rock star.
3. Get a novel on the NYT Bestseller list.
4. Hit a home run in the World Series.
5. Screw that blonde cheerleader with the big tits.

But I have become a writer, and gone places in the outdoors that I only dreamed of. And did years later go out with the alluring girl from high school with the raven black hair and sky blue eyes. But she turned out to be all looks and no personality.

All in all, not bad, I'm not complaining.

 

[alltherage]

When I was very small my family and I took a trip and the first leg was on a Jet. I remember thinking how shiney it was and how pretty and then I saw these men puttling the bags on a conveyor belt that went into the planes belly and I fell in love. I wanted to be a conveyor belt person. I went running to my dad and grabbed his hand and made him look out the window at the bag men. My dad, wonderful man that he was, told me that I could do anything I wanted and he would try his best to help me get my dreams.

Now I am a teacher. I think only in the most terribly drawn metaphor could that be compared to bag conveyor belt man.

 

[SINthysist]

The hero of whatever book I was reading at the time.

Still don't know what I want to do.

Still don't think I've grown up either.

 

[Tap-Out]

A professional track sprinter (I didn't stick with it after one particular injury. I could have easily gone back, but I sort of lost interest)

Then I wanted to be a computer programmer

I ended up being damn close to that one. While in high school I found out that screwing around with cables, cards, and IP addresses was far more fun (for me) than sorting through code, so I turned out to be a computer Network Administrator instead.

 

[pipercatt]

While growing up, my mother didn't help much with the dream factory. She was a single mom with one, then two kids, struggling to make ends meet. Unhappy that her own dreams didn't get met.

So I learned not to aspire to much. I just assumed that I'd follow her footsteps, divorced in my 20's, with kids, no money, and struggle for the rest of my life.

It took me till I was about 27 to realize that it wasn't going to happen quite like that. While I did get married at 19, I was still married, and at the time, not about to get divorced. No kids, but hubby had a steady income, we could pay our bills, and have lots of fun with whatever was left over. I decided to relax and be happy.

I did have a semi-dream, though. It was mostly just something that I assumed I'd be doing, and that's being some sort of an artist. My father's side of the family were all artists in some fashion, and it was assumed I'd do something with the inherited talent I "must" have gotten, right?

Well, fast forward 6 years. I am now getting divorced, however, still no children. And yes, I am an artist. While I've mainly been doing stuff to pay bills, the stuff I create occasionally for myself is very fulfilling.

Not bad, if I do say so myself.

 

[calypso_21]

Hmm...no where near where anyone else imagined. But I've done everything I ever set out to do and obtain. I just gained two extra beautiful additions to my "design".

I am still working toward growning up so don't feel the question can be fully answered by me at this point.

 

[SilverVeil]

I refuse to grow up.

I have too much fun.

I work, pay my bills, am not on any kind of assistance ( not that there is anything wrong with assistance if it is needed ... Goddess knows I know of people who do need it just to provide the bare minimum for their families ) I own my car.. shitty though it is. That is all the growing up I am doing.


I play video games, collect comic books, watch cartoons, sleep with a Care Bear ( Grumpy Bear if you must know ) and like playing in the rain.
I will be young forever.

 

[BigDawg69]

Allthough I have yet to grow up when I was a kid I wanted to be a fireman. And then I wanted to make films. I spent almost 5 years as a pyrotechnicain. So instead of putting out fires, I just made big explosions. Now I do live entertainment. It's not the film industry but it's entertainment nonetheless.

 

[peachykeen]

Wanted to be a writer and a mathemetician (don't ask).

Didn't do too bad; ended up teaching basic physics and astronomy, and writing dirty little stories.

If I am very honest, in many ways, my life has gone beyond my dreams. Married to a wonderful wonderful man, have done lots of traveling, have had the opportunity to live in different countries. Overall, outside of recent circumstances, life's been good to me so far.

 

[Riles]

It's funny, I flip through the different threads on this board and most of the time people seem very one dimensional to me. But when I read the posts on this particular thread...you suddenly all take on three dimensional shapes. I don't know many of you very well, and I often wonder if people actually read the posts of others on here, or do they just skim and throw up their thoughts? It mustn't be the case, since I know I'm not unique enough to be the only one reading these threads from start to finish.

I just want to say thanks...thanks for sharing your hopes, and dreams that you have attained, but most of all for the ones you didn't. It gives you all a decidedly human side that hasn't often been felt before.

To all of you, I wish you all the success and happiness to be found, no matter what walk of life you find yourself in.

 

[ksmybuttons]

I wanted to be independent. I wanted to be financially stable. I wanted to be able to do what I wanted and not what someone else wanted me to do. I wanted to be able to get out of a relationship with a man any time I wanted.

What I found was that interdependent is better. Financially stable is only a layoff away. You can't do anything you want without it impacting others, and I can get out of a relationship with a man any time I want but I always get hurt really bad, too.

 

[Bob_Bytchin]

When I was younger, I never wanted to get married, and certainly didn't want to have kids. Well, both happened, and I'm glad. People who have known me all my life have insisted that I haven't changed at all, but I like to think that my being young-at-heart does good for my kids.

As for a career, I never really had any plans because I would decide on one career, and then something else would catch my eye. I've taken quite a few college courses, and already have the pre-reqs out of the way to either become a teacher or a nurse if I finally get back to school. My wife is working on her career right now (military), so I stay home with our kids, take care of the bills, and do all the shopping, cooking, and cleaning. Of course I do get to spend some time online when not busy.

Trust me folks (for those who are still in their early 20's), don't rush to grow up. Being 30+, feeling young, and acting young is a blast.

 

[islandman]

Missed it by a mile, and then some..............

 

[Hotred911]

What I wanted to be when I grew up:

1.) a professional cheerleader (I didn't care what team, cheerleading was my life back then.)

2.) an elementary teacher

What I got:

A stupid mistake on my behalf, I fell "in love" with the wrong guy, and got pregnant at the age of 17. I dropped out of school just before the end of my junior year (this guy really had me blinded). I ended up going back to school, and graduated with the rest of my class. I'm now 20, the proud mommy of a two and a half year old, married to the most perfect man in the world, and pregnant with his baby. I'm still young and have plenty of time to finish growing up.

My new goals in life:

1.) To be the best wife and mommy I can be at all times.

2.) To go to school and become a teacher or nurse.

 

[Secret Kate]

 

[islandman]

Re: I missed it by more than a mile!

I had plans to be an interpreter (sp?) or a tour guide for the UN - with my 3 years of high school French! HA!

I ended up in accounting - and I hated math in school! I also ended up in Houston and wish that those three years of French had been spanish so I could speak the language down here - or at least speak to more people down here.

Bonjour Secret Kate. Ca va? sorry, American-standard keyboard here.

<----- also wanted to work for the UNDP. Ended up in finance.


Go fig.