I’m sure you’ve heard the question -- What do you want to be when you grow up?  I’m going to be honest. I hate that question. Okay, hate may be a little strong. I truly don’t care for that question. Because I don’t ever intend to grow up and why do I need to box myself into one thing?I think that’s why this Sugar Ray Leonard quote resonates with me. Dreams and aspirations are a funny thing. What we think we want most desperately in the world sometimes shifts and morphs into something else. But just like this quote says, opportunities are found in our dreams and aspirations. Even a dream deferred or aspiration altered.When I was little I didn’t aspire to be a doctor, or an attorney, or a teacher. Nope! I wanted to be a truck driver. Not just any truck driver. I wanted to drive a big ‘ole massive eighteen-wheeler. You see that big blue monstrosity in the photo below? That’s what I wanted to drive. A Peterbilt with a sleeper section in the back. Where I was going to drive this, and for whom, I had no clue. I just knew I was totally going to be a tractor trailer driver when I grew up.

Photo by Spanish Coches via Wikimedia Commons

Then when I was a little older I wanted to be that dude with the white and black striped shirt in the photo below. Yup. I wanted to be a referee. The first FEMALE NFL referee to be exact. I was so into the whole ref thing that I memorized all the hand signals and practiced in front of the television on Sunday afternoons. I’m sure my dad thought I was a lunatic, but I don’t recall him ever saying “Not. Gonna. Happen.” Yay for my dad!

Photo courtesy of MorgueFile

Fast forward many years…No I’m not a truck driver, or an NFL referee, or the host of the Today show, or a newspaper reporter or a sports agent.  But essentially, I have two dream jobs.Here’s my office by day, where I work as an analyst for a large healthcare IT firm.  Yeah, I’m not exactly doing what I went to college for, and who would’ve thought I’d be staring at a computer screen or hanging out on conference calls all day – but I can honestly say, this job is awesome. I mean I work from home, people!  And I work with THE BEST co-workers.

And that’s my office by night, where I escape to my totally awesome job as an author of young adult fiction.  Since I’m an incessant dreamer, I write about teenagers who dare to dream. Who dare to aspire. Who seize the opportunities laid out in front of them. I write about girls and guys who BELIEVE.

I’d love to hear what aspirations are you shooting for?

<p align="center">- TL -