What do you want to be when you grow up?

Ahh….the classic question every grade school age child is asked:

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I remember when I was asked this question. I was in Mrs. Hopkins’s kindergarten class and I was sat upon a high stool in front of a VHS Camcorder and was filmed as I gave my answer to this and other absurd questions. I replied to the camera, “I want to do what my mom does…but I don’t really know what that is.” My mom was employed at the hospital at that time and I assumed she was either a doctor or a nurse (she was neither) but I didn’t want to sound stupid not knowing what my own mother actually did all day so I gave a stupid answer. I was 6 years old.

Now, when you watch that tape, my dad was clearly in charge of getting me ready that morning as I was wearing a pink sweat suit with a panda on the front of the crewneck and a low pony – which I realize both are in style (sort of) now, but let’s just say my dad was “ahead of the fashion curve” when I was his responsibility to get ready in the morning. As a side note, I always liked when he combed my hair better than my mom because he wouldn’t comb all the way through the tangles and that was way better than my mother yanking that damned brush through my waist length hair.

Anyhow, what I really wanted to be was a doctor. I wanted to be a doctor because even by kindergarten I knew that doctor’s made a lot of money and I liked money. In 1987, the only professions you were allowed to choose as a child was a doctor or lawyer (for the money of course) or a fireman or police officer (public service/people helper). I didn’t really want to help people that much so my choices were law or medical. I naturally chose medical because I had never actually seen a real live lawyer and didn’t understand the whole concept anyway. Besides, doctors had TOOLS and I found those to be deeply intriguing. I kept this notion of wanting to be a doctor alive until some ass-wipe in the fourth grade blew my dream out of the water by telling me that you have to deal with blood. What. The. Hell. No one told me that before! So I was out of ideas for the next few years. (Shout out to Wyatt Sewell who destroyed my doctoral dream!)

I thought about becoming an artist, but heard they starved and besides – I had fellow sixth graders that were better than me anyway. I contemplated being a teacher and other random professions and the heat was really on by 1997 when I entered high school. Teachers were asking me to REALLY consider what I wanted to be. What?? Why? I have loads of time! My life plan by my sophomore year was to go off to UW, be a barista and mooch off my parents. Well, fast forward one pregnancy, failed marriage and a budding career later and I signed up for college!

With no major whatsoever in mind.

After attending classes for 2 years, I decided to major in Business and boom – here we are in 2016! Now, if I could go back to panda crewneck wearing little Dacia, I would have slapped her cute little self off that stool and said – “HEY! Don’t cut yourself short cupcake --- the internet is just around the corner!”

If being put back in kindergarten today and asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have said that I wanted to work for the Travel Channel flying all over the globe as a food connoisseur while writing my own series of travel guides. Like hello! They make WAY more than a doctor and you don’t have to work as many hours. And let’s not forget – no blood.

I wish that kids were given options when they are asked this life altering question at such a young age instead of being prompted by their society to be whatever society wants them to be. I believe everyone should have a goal and be self sufficient, but also should be doing something they are passionate about. I love food, writing and traveling. Those 3 things blend together so much more beautifully than Dacia being a doctor who doesn’t like blood. So the moral of the story:

Choose a goal, any goal, and work towards it. Make some money along the way but just make sure you are banking just as many smiles.