When I Grow Up I Want To Be...

When you were a child what did you want to be when you grew up? Maybe a famous actor. Or perhaps a pilot. Or a teacher. Maybe an olympian athlete. A firefighter. A scientist. A doctor. Rich.

There were unlimited choices ahead of us. I am certain your parents told you the same things our patrnts told us. You can be whatever you want to be as long as  you work hard and get good grades.

Getting good grades was easy. It is the one thing that comes easily to me. I never developed good study habits because  all I had to do was pay attention in class. I was not necessarily smarter than some of the others. I just have a knack for retaining information and being able to being it up when necessary.

Girls my age often wanted to be Annette or Hayley Mills. Or one of the Lennon Sisters. I suppose boys wanted to be Mickey Mantle or Davy Crockett.

Girls often dreamed about getting married. Planning a fairy tale wedding was the goal.

I really never cared about being married. A husband seemed like too much work. I did know that you needed a husband to have children.

What I always wanted to be was a mother.

Perhaps it is because I am the oldest. I helped with the younger children as happens in large families. I liked it.

So I dutifully was married before I began having children. I was so anxious to have babies but it took a couple of years before I did.

I will be telling you about my children in My Family eventually.

I used to say that I was not very successful in life. I had little money and not much in the way of possessions. That is what successful people have.

One day my oldest son asked me what I wanted to be when I was a child. I immediately replied that I wanted to be a mother.

He told me that I was successful because I was what I wanted to be.

I was a bit taken aback at first. Then I realized that I am just what I always wanted to be. I am a success.