The other night Michelle and I watched a movie that I’d never had any interest in seeing but actually it turned out to be pretty good. It was The Kid. It’s a movie about a man who runs into himself as a child and he’s able to see how stuffy and heartless he’s become, and we learn things about his childhood that led him to give up on his hopes and dreams.
This movie really got me thinking about my own life, and in turn, Sebastian’s. He’s going to have hopes and dreams about what kind of person he wants to be, and what he wants to do when he grows up. I was talking to Michelle the next day about wondering, as a parent, which dreams we need to cultivate and encourage, and which ones will just be fleeting. Like do I buy him a guitar the first time he expresses interests (and he will express interest) or do I wait until the tantrums last for 30 minutes or longer?
But this got me remembering some of the things I wanted to be when I grew up.
And in no particular order:
• Astronomer and/or astronaut (probably the longest-running dream of mine)
• Scientist of some sort
• Artist
• Novelist
• Rescuer (a guy who goes around rescuing people, preferably with a rope so I could swing from things)
• MacGyver
• Special Effects Makeup Guy (this dream lasted about 30 minutes)
• Left-fielder for the Red Sox
• Video game designer
• Comic book illustrator
• Single panel comic strip artist (like The Far Side)
• Miniature golf course designer (I’m still holding out hope for this one)
I always wanted to be a Toys R Us Kid.
And look at you now :)