Earlier this year I was outside on a sunny yet chilly day, trudging about 50' behind my husband as part of his "New Year's resolution 1-hour walk per day" proclamation. My iPod was blasting in my ears. Had my "work-out" playlist blaring. (It usually keeps my feet moving - albeit not as fast as my 6'2" husband with mile long legs...but I digress). There's some great rocking tunes with screaming guitars on my playlist but I found I really got moving during certain songs.
So as I was jogging along my mind wandered (as it sometimes does at times like those) and I started thinking about when I was younger ... I heard my first female rocker. I wanted to be the next-big-thing girl rock star. Like ... Janis Joplin. Pat Benetar. Joan Jett, Lita Ford (or any one of the Runaways). Suzi Quattro. (I'd even have settled for a semblance of the feisty Dolly Parton or Tammy Wynette.) I wanted to write great songs filled with musings, romance, conflict and angst. Like Karla Bonoff and Joni Mitchell and Loretta Lynn. Ah, dreams! And impossible fantasies.
Thought about where I am today. The vast differences in the lifestyle of my mid-life self and the rocker fantasy of my youth. What twists and turns kept me from being one thing and led me to a polar opposite life. A good life. A happy, loving one.
I went down the home and family road. Gave up my single, waif little self and morphed into pleasingly plump Wife. Mom. And now grandmother. Set up house in urban suburbia. Graduated college after I had my kids (so I was a wee bit untraditional for some things!) Went the business route. Worked 9-5.
And gave up my childhood dreams. Well, sort of. I still love my music. Never packed away my albums and 8-track tapes. Autographed posters and signed 8x10 framed glossies of famous performers adorn my walls. You'll still find me at concerts, though I've moved to a comfy chair in the back of the room. (These old bones aren't what they used to be!) And of course, I got involved on a local level by being on the board of directors for the RI Music Hall of Fame.
How about you? What was YOUR dream? What did you want to be when you grew up? However, if you happen to not be growed up yet ... what's your goal? Come on, you can tell me ... I won't tell anyone.
This is a very intertesting blog post! I am sure for all of us, we had a dream of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I will bet for most of us, our current career path is much different than the dream. When I was very young I would dream of meeting Carl "Yaz" Yastrzemski and he would help me realize my dream of being a professional women's baseball player. I used to imitate his particular baseball stance as he stepped up to the plate. Then I got Olympic fever and I used to dream a lot of being the next Wilma Rudolph or Jim Thorpe. I remember watching the documentaries on them both and wishing I could be a track star. I was a really fast runner back then, winning several of those ribbons in physical education in elementary school(mostly 5th and 6th grade) for fastest runner, broad jump and such. But when I reached junior high and high school, I didn't dream that much of what I wanted to be when I grew up. But I did LOVE to read, and still do. So, I used to think i would go into the library science field. I was discouraged from seeking this field by my guidance counselor as he said it is not a well paying field. I also loved animals and thought of being a veternarian, but I hate the sight of blood, so that field didn't appeal that much. As my career has taken me into the accounting field, I often think back to the time when I wanted to go into the library science field. I enjoy reading and surrounding myself with books would be a dream. The smell of books, the feel of books, now that's a dream!
ReplyDeleteWow! Really?!? I didn't know any of that. How interesting...from baseball to track to library to accounting. What a journey!
DeleteDid you ever think about going back to school for library science? Never too late!
Yes, I have thought about going back to school for library science as a matter of fact! At one point, with the invention of the internet, I thought the field and libraries in general would become obsolete, but as it turns out this field has evolved and has become popular!
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