When I Grow Up...

Growing up, I remember having two dreams of what I wanted to be.  I wanted to be the mayor of our little town or a writer.  I didn't have dreams about getting married and having lots of kids.  I didn't have dreams of being a princess.  I am sure that somehow made mayor or writer obvious choices for the non-a-typical kid.

The mayor thing obviously never worked out.  I was very interested in politics very early in life.  I watched Oliver North testify in hearings.  I watched every Presidential address I could .  I would privately critique the mayor of my small town on the decisions he made.  By the time I was 16, I was sure I could do a much better job.  This was probably the least rational thought I had at 16 and there are probably 2,500 people that are lucky this dream stayed a dream.

I did follow my writing dream for about eight years.  My experience began my junior year in high school newspaper class.  Without question, I excelled beyond what I thought capable.  My senior year, I was Editor-in-Chief of the high school newspaper, on the yearbook staff and a photographer.  That lead to the scholarship that would take me to community college.  There I would spend a year as a sports editor and photographer with occasional chances to write feature stories and opinion columns.  I was honored for a feature photograph during college.

During my senior year in high school and into my first year of college, I would work as a sport reporter for a local newspaper.  I would travel with local teams, taking photos and writing.  On Fridays, I would man the phones, taking stats, scores and quotes from local coaches during football and basketball seasons.

From 1993 to 1998, I would work as a sports reporter, photographer and typesetter for my hometown newspaper.  During that time, I would also do freelance photography and reporting for several newspapers in my region. 

During that stretch of time from 1993 to 1998, I worked a full time job at all times and usually a number of part time jobs in addition to the newspaper job.  I'm not sure I can remember them all, but here we go:
*  Caregiver in assisted living elderly home
*  Support assistant for disable adults
*  Dishwasher in nursing home kitchen
*  Gas station attendant
*  Teaching assistant for an autistic child and several other children 2nd to 5th grade

I don't think any of those jobs were quite as enjoyable as the newspaper jobs.  I'm not sure if I learned that writing didn't pay well or I strayed from that love, but I got far, far away from it.

After moving to Lee's Summit, I worked for a month at a pediatric dentist before I began a job at a marketing company.  I worked into management an independent telephone directory marketing company.  From there, I went to the eye clinic where I would work for the next 10 years and wearing a long list of hats.  Again...so far from the dreams I had as a child.

For the past year and a half, I have been volunteering in the church office.  I suppose I haven't lost my desire or dream to write, I just live it out in the form of blogging. 

I don't know what the future holds, but I know my resume holds a list of experiences that would qualify me for various jobs.  While I don't think I ever want to work as a reporter again, I don't know that I will ever find any job which gives me the same type of gratification as writing and living out the dream I had as a child.