When I Grow Up...

Every kid dreams about what they want to be when they get older. My boys have already started their "When I grow up list..."

The General wants to build houses with the Bear during the week and on the weekends he wants to be a super hero, so he can "rid the world of punks!"

The Tank wants to be a Fireman, build houses, fix snowmobiles, and change car tires.

And the Destroyer, who is the biggest brute of them all, wants to be a princess, and if that doesn't work out, then he'll settle for being Glenda, a good witch.

I keep assuring the Bear that if the Destroyer is anything like me, he's got nothing to worry about.

When I was little I use to dream of being the lead drummer/singer in a rock band. I thought I was going to be the next Don Henley. Until I realized that I didn't carry a musical note in my body.

When I realized that music wasn't my forte and sports was, I decided I'd be a pro football player. I was going to be the next Dan Marino. Until I realized that the NFL doesn't take five foot three inch girls that are afraid to get hit.

When music and sports didn't work out I needed to figure out what I was good at, that's when I turned to my folks for guidance.

"What am I good at?" I asked them.

To which my parents honestly responded, "relentless talking."

Great, I think I'll go in to politics. I'll put my chops to good use and help change the world. For about the next 12 years, I aspired to be the first female president of the United States. This dream lasted until I went off to college and sat through my first Poli-Sci class and realized that there were more relentless talkers out there besides me, and I couldn't tolerate people that differed in opinion so drastically from my own.

For the first time in my life I wasn't sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. I had no direction, no clear plan. All the while my parents continued to support me as I tested the waters. They supported all my phases that were to follow, my art/photography phase, when I wanted to be the next Margret Burke White; they supported my computer phase; the list continued to grow through college.

Even when I graduated from college, I was still clueless as to what I wanted to do with my life.

It wasn't until I got married and started my own band of trouble that I found my true passion in life. Being a Mom is the one job that I never thought I'd ever want, but it's the most fun, the most rewarding and the most fulfilling job I could do. I only hope that I'm as patient and supportive with my kids as my parents were with me.

Now if I could just get paid for doing it, it would be PERFECT!