What I wanna be when I grow up

This morning on the radio they were talking about what kids want to be when they grow up. It got me to thinking. Where had I deviated from my dreams growing up?

I remember early on wanting to be a veterinarian. My love of animals led me to that decision. I would be the James Herriot of the U.S., saving all the sick animals and delivering puppies. This dream remained with me until I found out how much college was involved.

Floating along indecisively, I turned to the T.V. for inspiration. Low and behold, there it was, I could be like Jacques Cousteau and take pictures of dolphins, whales, and beautiful blue and yellow fish. I would go to school in Hawaii to become an oceanographer.

Then one summer we went to the Gulf for vacation. I got in the water and played in the surf. All of the sudden I felt a sting. Then another sting. I immediately got out of the water to find welps on my legs. It seems that there are these horrible creatures, known as jellyfish that take some sort of morbid pleasure in bursting a little girl's dream of grandeur in the sea.

Back to the drawing board...

Besides the odd, being a Navy nurse (thanks to that Ester Williams movie I saw-you know the one where she swims all the time) or being a television star, I had to come up with another idea.

Finally, a decision I could act on...I would be a Forest Ranger. I could interact with animals (wildlife) and live in the woods on some elevated platform of a house, surveying the woods for forest fires. My senior year, I even went so far as to travel to Stephen F. Austin University to look into their forestry program.

So what derailed me? Take one guess...a MAN.

Would my life have been so different had I pursued my dreams? Yes. Do I have regrets? No. I probably would of ended up at some obscure park anyway...hunting for litterbugs and the drunk college kids majoring in veterinary medicine. Besides, khaki is not my best color.