Last spring, I helped in an after school program at a church for a couple afternoons; a fun, crazy experience, and it stretched more than my legs, that's for sure.
One of those times, the "theme" was that we were created specially, to do special things...we all have different talents and abilities, and we need to use them as fully as possible. Or, as I'm fond of saying, "Use your powers for good, and not evil..." (Little superhero way of looking at it...)
At the end of the day, each little group gathered up in a little "campfire circle" to journal and talk about the lesson of the day. One of the questions we were to put out there for the kids was that age old "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It was interesting to hear what the kids from a small rural town had to say. They don't dream too big. Modest little ambitions. Very attainable ideas for their happily-ever-afters. Most of them wanted to be ranchers, parents, teachers, etc. One wanted to be a rodeo clown, and I'm pretty sure he'll have a celebrated career as such...he's got all the bravado and flexibility needed! The circle finally got around to me and I said, "I want to make beach glass jewelry and sell it to tourists on an island, when I grow up."
There was stunned silence, as you might imagine.
They didn't want to hurt my feelings, but a few obvious things needed to be pointed out...
A very serious little girl finally, gently, said, "But you're already grown up. And you don't live on an island."
Well, yeah...that's true.
But I've got a lot more growing up to do and that's what I explained to them. And just because you're born and raised on the edge of nowhere doesn't mean you're always and forever tied there.
They processed that for a little while, then their discussion took a turn for the glorious...
Freed from having to give realistic, safe answers, all of a sudden they had GRAND ideas! A firefighter with a petstore, a missionary, a race car driver...I think we even had a mermaid, although it was getting silly by then.
We're all still growing up.
We will be until we die, in my point of view!
What do YOU want to be, when you grow up?
Mermaids and rodeo clowns, welcome!
