What did you want to be when you grew up?

I am excited to announce my first guest blogger.

Hi readers of A Journey Through Writing!  I’m Laura from Girl PlusEverything Else.

I like this picture because it makes me feel glamorous as if I was a celebrity being snapped by the paparazzi.  I am probably the least glamorous person I know so that picture is probably false advertising, haha!  I love reading what Blaire has to say on her blog and I was excited when she asked for some guest bloggers.  I tend to use my blog as a journal and write about what’s going on in my life and the things that interest me.  And I like to ramble.  So here is a little something that I have pulled from the nooks of my brain.

I never really had a clear career path.  I was jealous of those kids that knew they wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher.  That seemed so easy to me.  You would go to university, study for the set amount of years and then you would have a proper career at the end of it.  A job that is always in fashion.  And one that was always useful.

I remember a constant horrible panicky feeling in the back of my head that stayed with me from about 14 til 24.  Because I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up.  And you reach a stage in your life when people start asking you ALL THE TIME what you’re going to do after school and I didn’t have a response to that question.  I hated the way people would look at me, like I was wasting my parents’ time and money for sending me to a good school, like I was lazy because I couldn’t think of a job or that I was a lost cause. 

I discovered an old school book of mine a while back.  I was probably about eight at the time and we had to write a sentence or two on what we wanted to be when we grew up.  This is what I wrote.

“When I grow up, I would like to be a farmer’s wife.  Or a parrot trainer”

I really like that I didn’t want to be a farmer.  I wanted to be his wife!  I still have a very romantic view of farm life and is pretty much encapsulated in this picture.

 I imagine waking at the crack of dawn (and enjoying it!) and making fresh bread to be eaten at breakfast.  I imagine I would have had three strapping boys that would help their father on the farm.  I think I just liked that there would have been lots of animals around.  I would have dogs (to help with rounding up animals) and cats (to help keep the rats out of the barn).  I would probably have to feed baby lambs in the spring time. 

Also side note, a farmer’s wife is not a career option.   It’s just what occurs if you happen to marry a man who is also a farmer!

Option two… Parrot trainer, I have no idea where that sprang from!  Nowadays I can’t think of anything worse.  Parrots sqwak all the time, they have to be constantly mentally stimulated and they have giant beaks that do an awful lot of damage.  No thanks!

I think that what eight year old Laura was trying to say was that she wanted to do something that made her happy and that was with animals.  I’m now in a new career as a veterinary nurse and I finally feel like I’ve landed on my feet.  I wish I could go back in time and tell my old self not to worry because it all works out in the end.