What Do You Wanna Be?

For as long as I can remember I have been interested in absolutely everything.  I remember being so very intimidated by the question posed in school – “what do you want to be when you grow up?” 

I SWEAR to you the minute the question was posed I broke into a cold sweat and started feeling light-headed.  What?  Seriously? You’re telling me I have to choose something? Oh my gosh how on earth will I ever be able to choose just one thing?  The only thing I knew for certain is that I am a writer.  I have been “writing” since way before I could even hold a pencil or knew how to put words on paper.  I was a storyteller to anyone and anything that would sit still and listen.  I spent many day telling my dog Butch adventures and instructive stories.  He would sit with his blank puppy face, staring up at me in adoration, wagging his tail and (in all likelihood) understanding nothing.  I loved him dearly!  I would ride around the yard on my bike with him hanging on my arm, creating long journeys in my head of exploring unknown lands.  I still think about those sunny days spent in deep conversation with those big brown eyes.

I used to love art, but it wasn’t something I did all the time.  Though I was very creative and loved playing with miniatures of all kinds.  I could create an entire world for them!  Long before the time of Polly Pocket when you had to make all the little furniture yourself.  Oh you COULD buy some of it here and there, but it would be the wrong size and not what I wanted, so I created my own to suit me.  I had a blast making bunk beds and couches for my miniatures out of match boxes, of creating small round tables from poker chips and tooth picks, and houses out of shoe boxes, or (if my brother would share) Lincoln Logs.  Okay, so it didn’t look like all the glamorous toys they have out now, but I had so much fun doing it that in my mind it looked like a mansion complete with antique furniture.

Art became a joy to me as I grew a bit older.  A friend of mind in 5th grade taught me to draw some cartoons and I was hooked.  A whole new world opened up!  I started creating my own and before long had a lot of different cartoon animals and creatures who were playing antics all over my school work.  Yes, in fact I DID have notes sent home from the teachers begging my mom to speak with me about drawing creatures popping up in the middle of my homework and eating some of the answers.  They wanted me to be more “serious.” 

All in all, I guess I have learned a lot about who I am over the years, but still don’t really know what I want to “be” when I grow up.

Cherry Coley