When you 
were a child, what did you want to be?
I wanted to be a cowboy. Every year when the Sears and Roebuck toy catalog arrived, I spent hours pouring over the pages lined with cowboy boots and fringed jackets and toy cap pistols. And the hat–don’t forget the hat!
I didn’t spend much time in the BB gun section because my mom wouldn’t entertain the first thought of a BB gun. She could just see me doing major damage with one.
And when Christmas came, I wore those boots and double holster cap guns proudly. In my imagination, I fought outlaws and rustlers. And not just in my imagination. I spent hours outside pretending to capture the bad guys. Probably one reason my mom enthusiastically bought my heart’s desires–I was out of her hair for most of the day.
Not one time Had to correct what I was going to write. Only one time in my life did I ask for a doll. And when I got her, I didn’t know what to do with her. I didn’t know you were supposed to have tea parties and that sort of thing with dolls. Never owned a Barbie. Although I did play with paper dolls –Roy Roger and Dale Evans paper dolls. 🙂
So, what happened to those dreams? Why didn’t I become a cowboy, or since I like capturing the bad guys, why didn’t I become a sheriff or police officer? In a way I did, and that’s one thing I really like about being a writer. I get to be anything I want to be! Check out my Logan Point and Cedar Grove series–I write about sheriffs, and doctors, and missionaries, and writers, and politicians…
How about you? What did you want to be when you were a child? How close did you come to being that? Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for my Christmas Heartwarming book, The Christmas Campaign that releases November 1. Print copy only for USA addresses. Other will be eligible for an e-copy. Contest ends Monday, September 7, 2015, at 7 p.m.
P.S. Kim Hansen-Amundsen was the winner of Johnnie Alexander’s Where Treasure Hides!
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Comments 14
I had wanted to be a teacher when I was a child. Although, I think that is a common occupational desire among young girls of elementary age. I knew by high school that there was no way I wanted to be a teacher. I went to university and graduated with a degree in exercise physiology. I worked in my degree until my first child was born and then guess what? I became a teacher! I taught phys ed. at my children’s small private school and then home-schooled. haha
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My niece wanted to be a teacher and spent hours in her room with her dolls, “teaching” them. Isn’t it funny how we come full circle sometimes without meaning to, Terrill.
I just wanted to be a mom! And that I did!!
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Anne, that is so sweet! I don’t think I ever gave that a thought when I was a kid. lol
I wanted to be an Olympic gymnast, just like Mary Lou Retton, LOL.
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I was always much too tall to be a gymnast, Michelle. So glad to see you here.
I really don’t know what I wanted to be when I was a child other than to be grown up. I guess a lot depended on what book I was reading at the time. If it was an interesting story, I often wished I could be like the hero in the book. I enjoyed biographies about frontiersmen, but I wasn’t born early enough to be a frontiersman. I also enjoyed reading Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and other cowboy books, so at times I wanted to be a cowboy. Then I would read a Hardy Boys mystery book and want to be a private detective. I ended up spending over 40 years working in bank technology and operations. I actually enjoyed working inside more than outside. 🙂
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I think I still read a book and want to be whatever the hero is, Edward! Thanks so much for stopping by.
Hmm, I remember the gymnast phase that Michelle mentioned. For me, it was because of Nadia Comaneci’s perfect scores in the 1976 Olympics held in Montreal. I wanted to be a writer when I was around 12. And voila, here I am. Couldn’t do the splits to save my life, but I can make sure the good guys catch the champion gymnast’s stalker–fictionally speaking, of course. 😉
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Sandra and Michelle, I remember wanting to be an iceskater after watching the Winter Olympics on television. We had hardwood floors and I spent hours “skating” on them. Thanks for making me remember those days!
I wanted to be an artist. I can remember telling everyone that when I was very young. I eventually decided to go to college to be an art teacher. I never finished tho, and now I love being a stay at home mom. I happy create things with my son in our craft room though!
So you’re getting to do what you dreamed about! That’s great, Lea!
Such a timely question for me that I’m answering here even though there’s a newer blog entry! I cycled through so many things I wanted to be from lawyer to astronaut, but kept coming back to scientist. Throughout college God kept making the picture clearer and clearer for me. Now I’ve finally finished up my degrees and am eager to working in applied psychology!
This, Pat, is why I felt drawn to come back and leave a comment in the first place: Your books came at an opportune moment in my life, too. It had been a while since I’d read any Christian fiction; too often when I read such books I found that I could not relate at all to the main characters, I’m not that sweet, gentle, or ready to back down. And then I picked up “Shadows of the Past” (and couldn’t put it down) – Taylor Martin was a heroine I could identify with (not because I’m that brave), she’s highly educated, driven, has a career, likes using her brain and certainly doesn’t simper to find a man! So thank you for writing strong, smart, Christian heroines; the books are thrilling, but you should also know how inspirational they can be!
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Thank you, Steph! You certainly know how to make my day. That’s always my goal–to create heroes, but especially heroines, who are strong, but flawed. And because the Christian life isn’t always perfect, I like to show how Christians deal with issues they struggle with. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment.