Happy Sunday!
Today’s prompt asks “What was your dream job as a child?” Uh, who is thinking up these questions is what I ask??? And so, we are forced back to bounce into our childhood.
Ironically, yesterday, I was browsing through photos looking for a photo I took of David Crosby and instead,ran across a picture of myself holding a tennis racket. This brought me back to my family famous response to the question asked of me in Kindergarten.
“What do you want to do when you grow up?”. My answer was written down for posterity and then repeated as it made adults laugh. Maybe I should have said I wanted to be a comedian? No, I wanted “to be a teacher and play tennis on the weekends. “
Well, hahaha, I was a teacher for like 35 yrs I thought of entering many other vocations growing up, worked in various industries as a teen and of course, changed my college major a few times. Somehow, I ended up teaching art while I was still in high school. I was always a trustworthy babysitter since age 12 . Some of the children I watched on their nannies’ day off are quite famous now! Having been the oldest child in my entire extended family and a perfectly obedient child, I was ALWAYS left in charge of the cousins and siblings. No escape from destiny, I worked with children in a variety of settings since I was a child.
Despite about a thousand hours of tennis lessons and living in a house with a tennis court, I never got past a beginner level and managed to injure my knee playing in high school. I did know everything about tennis . I was a true fan of the game🎾 and loved all of it. One of my first jobs was working for a tennis clothes manufacturer. I folded and bagged tennis panties, colored in illustrations of tennis dresses (no computers). Until my first marriage, I had never seen my parents friends in anything but tennis apparel.
So, the tennis thing didn’t work out, but the teacher thing was great for me. I spent the majority of the years working with three year olds. The thing about three year olds is they are just stepping into their own personalities and expanding their independence . They become more verbal and learn very quickly. It was a privilege to be a teacher. Doesn’t pay much, doesn’t receive the respect it deserves . The kids grow up and forget but, I loved working with young children.
For my Artful Embroidery readers-
