This morning Nate and I were chatting with a bright young man who is in the midst of filling out scholarship applications, as he begins college next year. Somehow this segued into Nate discussing what he wants to study and the limitations of local opportunities for a child of his age (Nate will be 14 in two weeks). After getting over the 'what grade are you in' hump (um...all of the above?), the bright young man asked Nate what he wanted to be when he grew up.
"I want to be in the FBI."
I winced. I feel awful about it, but it's true. I winced. Until that moment, Nate appeared intelligent, mature, older than his years...and then out came his childhood dream. Nate has wanted to be in the FBI since he was about six, except for a short period in the middle where he didn't think he could shoot to kill. Even though he is seriously considering going into the Navy, his career goal is still the FBI (or possibly NCIS, but he says very few people get into the NCIS).
This evening, while he's gone at youth group and I am sitting in the quiet with nothing to do but be circumspect, I have been pondering my reaction to his announcement. I guess part of me considers it a childish, impossible dream, and figures other people will hear him say that and *boom* think he's 10 years old. Finally it dawned on me. The FBI is real. There are real FBI agents. They did not get there by accident! Clearly, some people hold on to that childhood dream, and thank goodness they do!
Nate comes by his dream honestly enough, with law enforcement on both sides of the family. When he talks about his career goals, he talks about double government pensions. He is not a little boy any longer, and I guess it's about time his mother realized he's serious about this FBI business. So here's to hanging on to the dream!
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3 comments:
:D I held onto my dream too. I have said since I was able to talk, that I wanted to be a mom. When I was a senior in high school we had to do a term paper, worth half of our final grade that year, on what we wanted to do after high school. My teacher didn't like my idea of "just being a mom", so she said I had to choose something else. So to appease the grading factor of the project, I chose my dad's profession. Did tons of research...wrote and re-wrote my paper over and over...and generally discovered that his job wasn't for me. Despite my teacher's pushing for me to NOT become "just a mom", I knew and have always known that was what I was meant to be.
Sarah, I know what you mean. It was not ok for me to say I wanted to be a mom, either, so I alternately said I wanted to be a teacher, lawyer, and psychologist. Now I jokingly say that when I became a mom, I became all three!
LOL Jenn! I am with you on the shock at our children's ambitions.
My son recently announced he wants to be a surgeon. It was hard not to laugh, because I still see him playing pirate-superman and running around with a bubble sword in my head. LOL
But more shocking: I found an old journal where I wrote a prayer for my son in case he grew up to be in the military, and added something to the effect that I would at least never have to worry about that for my daughter. She is now competing for an AFROTC scholarhsip and wants a career with the Air Force. LOLOL
We just bring them into the world and give them tools to travel with. Who knows where the Lord will lead them, eh?
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