When I Grow Up

When I was a kid, what did I want to be when I grew up? I don’t remember. In fact, my childhood remains mostly a mystery to me. For some reason, I don’t have very many memories from then – just bits and pieces that make no sense as to why I remember them and not other, more significant things. I don’t know if this is normal, or not. But it’s me.

Anyway, I’m sure I was asked at various times what I wanted to be when I grew up. I have no idea what I might have said in reply to that. Both my parents were teachers, and that may have been a logical assumption as a career, but when it came time to choose something at the end of high school, teaching didn’t even get a look in – I knew by then that I didn’t have the patience for it.

I love walking in the National Parks

I don’t remember having a burning ambition to be anything in particular. But I do remember thinking that a park ranger in the national parks would be a cool thing to be. Back then, that sort of work wasn’t considered a worthwhile career – we certainly hadn’t really started thinking of the environment and national parks in the way that we do today. So when I was discouraged from pursuing that, I gave in pretty easily.

or walking anywhere in the bush

 

In the end, I studied accountancy at university. From there, I worked as an accountant, then a systems support analyst, and eventually a business analyst. I enjoyed the work, for the most part, but I think I was always waiting for that thing that really inspired me – what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Now I’m retired. And I’m still wondering what I will be when I grow up! I don’t think of myself as being middle-aged (well, being over 50 means that I am certainly in that category). In some respects, I still think of myself as being in my early 30s. When I was in my 20s, my mother commented that she still thought of herself as being 27, even though she must have been close to 50, if not older, at that time. So I’m not on my own in my delusion.

one of Mum's paintings

And being retired, I now have the time to spend doing lots of different things – trying to find my passion, maybe? My mum tells me that she also tried many different things. I remember her sketching – sitting on the sidelines whilst Dad played cricket or something. I remember her knitting, both by hand and on the knitting machine. I remember her decorating cakes (she used to get really cranky when we watched her doing it, so used to only do it at night when we were all in bed). I remember her sewing curtains, and cushion covers, and our beloved snake chair. So my memory mustn’t be too bad after all!

Falling into the category of things I know she has done but don’t remember her doing, are patchwork (she still has the pieces ready to be sewn into the quilt), and painting (her art-works are hung on the walls at home).

In the recent past, Mum has been a keen, and very good, photographer. She has made beaded jewellery. She has made her own greeting cards, often using her photographs. Who knows what else she has tried her hand at!

Mum and me (guess which is which!)

So now I know what I’m going to be when I grow up. Whether I like it or not, I’m going to be my mother.