Occupational Baptism

One of the projects I'm trying to complete this year is the art journal from an unfinished class offered by Shimelle called "When I Grow Up."  My journal is called "My Wildest Dreams," and it's about the things I dreamed about becoming, where I ended up, and where I still hope to go. It's in a hand made journal, which has a flap in the middle of each spread and which allows me to add things. I have posted previous entries here and here (okay, I know there's another entry somewhere, but I can't find it now; I will update the link when I find it - LOL!).  This entry is about one of my father's many quirks.  When each child was born, he declared what they would be when they grew up, and he pushed us hard in that direction.  He wasn't always right, but his drive and encouragement really did help us all to eventually graduate from college and become productive adults.  The image on the flap is a color copy of a collage I made in his honor.  The little icons and embellishments represent the various occupations into which we were all baptized.  Did your parents push you into a particular path?  And did you follow it?

When I Grow Up . . . (a story)

This is a "story book" I wrote for a Shimelle class called "When I Grow Up." I plan to use Sian's story telling Sundays as a way to finish up the art journal I'm making for the class. 

Once upon a time, there was a little girl.  When she grew up, she wanted to be a veterinarian because she had 52 cats and loved them all.  When she was a little bigger, she wanted to be a spy, so she could be just like Harriet.
When she was eight, she discovered that she wanted to be a photographer because she mailed away cereal box tops to get her first camera.
When she went to high school, she decided to become an architect because she liked to draw and plan.  She also thought about being a choreographer because she loved ballet but knew she really wasn't a very good dancer. When she grew up, she wanted to be tall and pretty, so she could have a boyfriend.
When she was in college, she wanted to be a photojournalist because she had gone to San Francisco to buy her first SLR camera and learned to develop black and white film.
In college, she decided to become a lawyer when she grew up because everyone said she would.

When she was in college, she thought about being a rock 'n' roll drummer and maybe an artist . . . just because.
After law school, she wanted to be an arbitrator, professor or author when she grew up because practicing law was kind of boring.
The older she got, the more she realized that, when she grew up, she really, really, really wanted to be a mom, so she could share her life and her love with her children.
When she got older, she no longer wanted to drum, but she really wanted to make art . . . because she realized she needed to.
And when she grew up, she was loved forever - just for being who she was - by a tall, dark, handsome man;
she became mom to the two most beautiful children in the world;
she taught and wrote about the law with passion; and
she took photographs and happily traveled the road to becoming an artist.
The End