When I Grow Up

http://www.spacetelescope.org/

We all wanted to "be things" when we grew up... perhaps the better choice of words would have been what we wanted "to do".  I never thought I would be a mom, a wife, and especially a stay at home mom.  We all turn out to be things.  We all have attributes, whether we are kind, funny, sweet, even tempered... hot tempered, rude, obnoxious, driven, focused, lively, boring... these are the things that we ARE, not necessarily what we DO.

What we do can be in terms of a career choice - or a career that chooses us, it can be the volunteer work that we do on the weekends, it can be the stray dog that we take in, or the bachelor party that we choose to leave from to spend time with our families.

The things that I'm interested in now don't vary a whole lot from what I was interested in long ago.  I still love to read, I love to make things with my hands that are tangible - that show time, effort, preparation, I still like a clean space... and even better when someone else cleans it... :)

Image via The Daily Show - Comedy Central

I do wish I had better math skills.  Unfortunately, I'm not what you would call mathematically inclined.  Looking back, if I could "be" anything, and was all of a sudden gifted in math, I would be an astrophysicist.  The study of the stars, planets, orbiting bodies, how the distance between them is calculated, how black holes develop and what they are made of, the research they are doing with particle accelerators and the Hadron collider... it is all endlessly fascinating to me.  I guess I will have to just be content with watching NOVA and reading books by Neil deGrasse Tyson... who by the way, has an awesome collection of ties and vests, and also a great sense of humor.  Something tells me that not every scientist would play dress up at the beginning of their television shows (which my nine year old finds hilarious), or go on The Daily Show, or take the criticism about getting rid of an entire planet with grace and laughter... and for that, I appreciate and watch (and follow on Twitter) him all the time. 

More individuals need to realize that if you aren't having fun while you are at work and "being" then you probably haven't chosen to "be" the right thing.  Me, I'm still looking.