So what do you want to be when you grow up?

Miss Informed
By Traci Rork

(3.19.09)

Since the beginning of time, teachers, parents, grandparents, grown ups in general have been asking us this very question. Now as a late 20-something, I’m still not sure I know the correct answer. Nor am I sure that any of my friends know what they want to be when they grow up. Perhaps this is because we aren’t quite sure when it’s officially decided that we are indeed done growing.

I think the question should be rephrased to “What do you want to be while you’re growing up?” or “What do you want to do while you’re gettig old?”

It seems like the finish line will always be ahead of us, so a majority of our lifetimes are going to be spent in the meantime. So, what do you want to do with your days, consecutively, to earn a living and enjoy your quality of life? Where do you want to live? What will it take to make you proud to hear about what it is that you do out loud?

According to wise people and a recent beer commercial, the key to living a happy life is to do something that you love so work never feels like a job. If you didn’t have to get ready and go to work, where would your day take you? What activities would you pursue if work wasn’t pursuing you?

So gradually, as we’re growing, it’s important to try as many jobs as possible in order to rule things out. Otherwise, the myriad of options may prove to be too overwhelming and you’ll never decide which route to take. As long as you’re moving, you’ll be moving along.

My first job was as a babysitter, which I thoroughly enjoyed and found incredibly rewarding. I even did it for free on occasion and to this day there are a couple of kids I wouldn’t mind watching for a couple of hours. As for full-time diaper changing, hair pulling, fight stopping duties - Forget it. Blessed are those who are capable of this profession, but until I am personally responsible for a child of my own, I don’t want to lose sleep over anyone else’s.

So on to the next job - life guarding at a country club. I must admit that my decision to teach swimming lessons and lifeguard every summer in high school was a good one. Especially at a country club which was way less stressful and much less work than at a public pool. Plus, sunscreen and swimming suits don’t make for a bad uniform and my office was a sunny sanctuary with a soundtrack made of laughs, whistles and splashes. Keep in mind I was still a babysitter and there were obligations, but for the most part, I sat, I sunned and I swam my summers away.

When I first started working at the Citizen almost 5 years ago as the assistant to the editor, my duties included writing obituaries and checking the Citizen’s Voice mailbox. Now if that wasn’t the best thing to have with coffee in the morning, I don’t know what is! Seriously, I’d have the headphones on, playing the messages over and over trying to un-slur someone’s comment about Domino’s Pizza at 4:20 a.m. I shouldn’t be the only one who gets to listen to this! So I’d often get Rob O’Neal to bare witness to the animated characters who filled that mailbox up daily, and almost lost the will to live if I didn‘t empty it out immediately Monday morning.

After awhile I became a reporter. My job was to find out what was going on and then tell everybody about it…..Hello? Had I not been practicing for this my whole life? Since birth, I’ve been gathering information and offering it to anyone who would listen. Much to my parents dismay, my little 5-year-old self would wander over to the neighbors to let them in on what was going on at our house. Even if it was a trivial as mom’s disappointment in dad’s impulse purchases. “Mom says, ’Billy, we don’t need any more towels! How come every time you go to the store you buy more towels?’

So I didn’t have the greatest news sense or a filter, but I managed to absorb a lot of information which was a dangerous combination. I have since developed a bit of discretion and can keep a secret now and then believe it or not. I still like taking in the world around me and then throwing my interpretation out into the world - hence this column you’re reading now pondering the inquisitive question of “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I guess when you hear people tell you that you can do anything you want and be anybody you want to be, we should believe them and start thinking big. Michael Jackson big.

Hell, if a guy named Phil can throw a Dr. in front of his name and impress Oprah, maybe tomorrow Capt. Traci will set sail to the Bahamas where she can begin filming her travel show on E!