What do you want to be when you grow up?

So what DID you want to be when you grew up?  Were your dreams spot on or did you veer off the path a bit?

I never had a clear vision of what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I just wanted to grow up.  That's it.  I wanted to be able to do whatever I wanted to do.  My mom desperately wanted one of us to become a nurse like her (I couldn't stand the sight of oozing wounds or traumatic injuries so I knew it wouldn't be me).  It ended up that none of us became nurses.  My sister became a psychologist and I work in a medical office so I guess we're close, but not the big winners.

I can clearly remember being in 5th grade and doing a project on what we wanted to be when we grew up.  Most kids picked the standard answers:  doctor, lawyer, vet, teacher, maybe a ballerina or astronaut thrown in for good measure.  I remember looking around the room and thinking that I didn't want to be ANY of those things.  That there was nothing inside of me saying "I want to be [insert job here] when I grow up!"  So what did I do?  I took what I thought was a "cool" sounding job and chose that. 

Yep, I declared to all of the 5th grade at Round Hill Elementary that I wanted to be an Air Traffic Controller.  I drew my required picture of the tower at the airport and a little me inside the window.  At this point I knew I loved to travel and I knew that air traffic controllers worked at the airport so really, what could be better?

I think about it all today and just laugh.  If only I had known what that job actually was and how stressful it can be.  I'm not totally convinced that it would have changed my mind because what 10/11 year old really understands stress, long hours, and talking down a plane in an emergency situation?  That probably only would have made me think the job was SO AWESOME!

When I got to college and had to declare a major I STILL didn't know what I wanted to do with myself.  At first I said "pre-med" because it sounded smart and cool, but I really had no interest in it.  I thought that's just what I was suppose to say.  One semester of chemistry and that idea was out the window.  I floated around taking required courses for awhile when my mother started hounding me again about a major and what I wanted to do with my life.  One day at breakfast a friend told me she was majoring in International Relations.  Again, I thought it sounded cool so I went for it.  This, of course, freaked out my mother because it wasn't a degree that led to one specific job.  I wasn't going to graduate and be a doctor, a nurse, a lawyer, a teacher, or anything.  I was just going to be a college grad with a worthless degree.  But eh, my mother has never been one to deter me so I blew her off and went forward with my grand plan (read: just graduating).

In the end it all worked out for me as I got a job in DC doing.....International Relations!  I worked on Capitol Hill for a few years and then transitioned to lobbying.  Now I'm not doing anything remotely related to any of that which has brought me full circle back to "what do I want to be when I grow up?"  I know it's not what I'm doing now.  I know I still want to do whatever I want to do and I do still love to travel.  So, anyone have any ideas for me?  I'm not sure I'm ready to grow up, but I'm ready to start thinking about it.