What did you want to be when you grew up?

Today I have been looking through a School Years memory book.

The memory book has pockets that contain most of my old report cards and some examples of my school work.

However, one of my favorite features of this book was the selection of what I wanted to be when I grew up.

When I was in Kindergarten I wanted to be an Astronaut when I grew up. This was of course right at the end of the Apollo missions and there was much discussion of the future of the space program.

In First Grade, I wanted to be a farmer. Remembering back, I believe this was at the time when my father had revived some of his interest in farming. When he was in High School he was recognized as an Iowa Farmer in the FFA. Later in life I did do some farming while working on a ranch and also worked in the food packaging industry.In Second Grade, I wanted to be a carpenter. At that time I probably did not know what an engineer was, and wanted to be someone who worked with tools and instruments.

The choices are actually quite interesting, especially the stereotypical roles for boys and girls. You can see that only in Kindergarten did I select one of the standard options and the rest of the years were a write-in.

In Third and Fourth Grade I selected that I wanted to be a cowboy. These were the last years that I filled out this section.

So, did I become a cowboy? I am not a cowboy now, but right after I graduated from High School I did work on a ranch and part of my job was being a cowboy. I worked cattle and built fence. I also worked in the field at both planting and harvest times.

You can see that I realized some of my dreams throughout my career.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Steven