When you grow up

When you were young, did you dream of being a firefighter? A cop? Lawyer? Doctor? Teacher?

When I was really young, I think I wanted to be a teacher. When I started doing well in school, I decided to be a lawyer. That lasted about three minutes until I realized it was going to take at least seven years of school before I stood in front of the courtroom.

Then, I decided my ultimate dream was to be a sports broadcaster. Not the kind that's on TV reviewing the sports highlights at 11 p.m. (I mean let's be honest, I'm no Jennifer Hedger or Erin Andrews). Nope, I'm talking about the Blue Jays commentators who rattle of stats and call the game. I absolutely loved baseball (to the point that, at the age of 12, I would make my own scoresheets on looseleaf paper and keep "paper score" so I could show my dad exactly what happened in the game when he got home from work) and I knew the batting average of every Blue Jay from about 1992 to 1995. But, slowly my sports broadcasting dream died and I was left wondering just what I would be I grew up. That is, until grade 11.

In B.C. we had a program called CAPP: Career And Personal Planning. I can very clearly remember sitting in the "keyboarding" room completing a career planning survey. Basically, you run through the questions, tally the score and then *poof* you know what you want to be.

I finished the test, compiled my score and anxiously turned over the page to see what I was going to be when I grew up. Our teacher challenged us to pick one of our "ideal careers", research it and then compile a bit of a report. With excitement, I started to read my options:

1. Mattress maker

2. Nut sorter

3. Public relations practitioner

4. I have no idea

5. I am still astonished that it suggested I be a frigging NUT sorter.

6. What the hell is a mattress maker?

I guess you know where I put my effort. I'd never heard of "public relations" before so decided to make it the subject of my report. As it turns out, it suited me to a tee: good English skills, enjoy writing, working behind the scenes, etc. etc. etc. From that day forward, I never looked back.

I called the U of Calgary, figured out what I needed to do to get in, took the right classes at the local college, then transferred the credits to the U of C after moving to Alberta. While spending a year at the U of C was a waste of time (because Mount Royal had a better PR program), it ultimately put me in an ideal place, time wise. If I'd gotten into Mt Royal a year earlier, I'd probably be working somewhere different, probably wouldn't have had a chance to move back to the Okanagan for a few years and wouldn't have made the great friends I did when I entered the college in 2002.

Either way, it's interesting to look back at the paths we've taken to get where we are today.

What did you want to be when you grew up? Or, should I say, what do you want to be when you GROW up?