I think I thought about different things that I might want to do or be. I know that I thought that being a writer would be great, and I thought about teaching. But there were so many things that I thought about doing that I can't say that I ever really had a childhood goal. In the end, I did teach, but not in the way that I had imagined it, as I taught people to become EMTs and paramedics rather than teaching in a K-12 school system. Mostly though, and I think I'm being factual when I say this, that I was never in a big hurry to grow up. I enjoyed my childhood, and I resented every part of it that slipped away. I hated the end of summer, but soon enjoyed the routine of elementary school. I loved being in Boy Scouts, and all of the time that we spent in the woods, on the rivers, the lakes, and on our bicycles. I cried when I graduated from elementary school and went on to high school, but I soon learned to love high school, although not as much as I had enjoyed elementary school. I didn't think I would, but I cried again when I graduated from high school, albeit privately. After high school, things changed so quickly that I wasn't sure that I could keep up. At first, I thought it might be a bit like summers, hanging out with my friends in Menominee, Michigan or across the river in Marinette, Wisconsin. But before I knew what happened, my friends were all gone: to college, to work, to other parts of the country. I was too young to work and too poor to go on to college, so I spent some time hitchhiking around the country, and I enjoyed that too. Then, when I returned, I found that hardly any of my friends were still around, and I was too old to make new ones. I was involved in the anti-war movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. After that, I sort of blundered into everything that I have done with my life, pretty much devoid of plan or preparation. I was neither lazy or stupid so once I was able to find work, I generally did well. Although I wasn't particularly ambitious, it annoyed me to have to take orders from people who I thought were dumber than I was. I won't go through the whole jobs thing here because I've done that already, but I usually got promotions and job offers without really having to go out and look for them. Even the things that I count as being among the most important things that I have done with my life were things that just sort of happened. I have told this story elsewhere too, so I won't go through it in any detail here, but I adopted a seven years old when I was in my early 20s, but even that wasn't something that I set out to do. I knew the kid, liked him, and my conscience wouldn't let me just walk away. I spent more than twenty years as a paramedic, working in pretty much every area of emergency medical services, but that began when my pastor talked me into taking a course and volunteering with the local ambulance service, which later became my first paid job in EMS, as the director of that service. At some point along the way, I suppose I realized that I had grown up but I still sometimes find myself thinking about what I might want to be when I grow up. In all honesty, my first choice would probably be to be twelve and back home with my parents, my brothers, my cousins, and my friends.
The usual fireman or cowboy. But when real life set in, I really don't know, and I guess I still don't. Never really had a solid goal to become anything special. If I had it to do over again.....maybe a DJ or career serviceman.
Sounds like a 'hot seat' question to me... I believe I met my goal .. Having failed in childhood of having that perfect (foundation) family scenario .... mother, father, sister, brother. ... Well, a distant mother, but that was about it, no father or siblings. I had only one dream growing up, and that was to create the perfect family. I feel I accomplished that. Everything else was secondary. .... and along the way, many years later, even found that elusive (half) sister & brother, my father's family after he died. Visited his gravesite. It's been interesting to say the least.
I drifted as a boy. Despite being from a humble family, I loved learning, but loathed school. I had my head in the clouds and wanted to be some sort of scientific academic. However, university was a bit of a disappointment to me it all seemed slower and duller than I had hoped and I was disillusioned by the traditional " God save the Queen!" attitudes of a very old-fashioned university and could be seen more often at the bar than studying, so I ended up with an average degree and the dream bubble burst. After the death of my mother, I became interested in mental health and became a nurse. Then by a circuitous route I gave that up and became a van driver for many years. Finally back to care!
Let's see, when I was very little, I wanted to be an Olympic figure skater. Did I meet that goal? Of course not. Ha ha. It was never really a goal, though, as I knew it wasn't going to happen. It was simply a daydream. As I got older, I thought more about wanting to be a novelist. Being a big reader as a kid, and being surrounded by books growing up, probably had a big impact on my interest in this. Now, I have not met that goal yet, but it is still in my goals/plans. I have been a writer, and have sold articles and poetry, so I feel that in a sense I have made great progress toward that goal.
I was in my early teens before I decided just what I wanted to do as a adult. I decided on a Funeral Director/Embalmer and pursued that after completing four years in the military at age 21 and going to college on the Korean GI Bill. I completed all the educational requirements, served a two year apprenticeship, took state exams & passed, then went to work at a mortuary in a mid sized town that did 4 to 5 hundred funerals a year.
Make a survey of children's amibition and surely you will come up with doctor as first in the list. I was a typical grade school pupil who also have that ambition like my sister. But when I finished high school, an engineering course caught my fancy. When I passed the entrance exam for industrial engineering, I did not hesitate to pursue the course which I successfully finished. That degree was my passport for a job in the bank as a methods analyst trainee. My sister took up nursing because of budgetary issues and she is now a nurse in a government hospital. Her husband was her classmate in nursing school who continued his studies to be a doctor. He is a physician in a public health center. By the way, my mother has an obsession for a doctor so she was just glad when my sister's boyfriend passed the licensure exams for doctors (and later on he married my sister).
When I was in high school, i remember I wanted to be a movie director Funny but I had that illusions. Of course, that was an unrealized dream as I ended up as a college librarian but my original interest was in the behind the scenes work of a director.
I wanted to do 3 things be in the Peace Corps, A foreign correspondent and or an Airline Stewardess. I have done none of them,. Although I once interviewed for Vista. I am not sure I would have liked it though, I had a friend who was a volunteer coordinator for a jail in North Carolina through Vista, and she quit after 8 months. She said the stress was unbearable. IF I ever go overseas to teach English,not sure if it will ever happen..but who knows? I guess writing a blog on my experience will be my foreign correspondent thing.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a soldier. When I was a teen health issues killed that plan. I loved rural life, and thought being a farmer would suit me fine, but knew a farm was beyond my reach. Dad had just finished the house we built in town when he met a guy who had a small farm, but wanted to retire to a house in town. Dad showed the man our house and he loved it. We looked over his farm and I loved it. Behind the house and barns were steep wooded hillsides. The tillable land was in front across the road. Dad's plan was to keep his town job and let me run the place. Mom had other ideas. She didn't want to give up her newly built house in town for a drafty old farmhouse. And that was that. I had no other plans and spent the rest of my life drifting from job to job to place to place. I regret the hardship my restlessness caused my family.