Today in my sunday school class, my nine-year-olds decided they wanted to discuss what they wanted to be when they grew up. Turns out, I have a future video game programmer, lawyer and composer in my class. (In his defense, li’l g wants to be a lawyer because that’s what his dad is – and since he’s only 9, his dad is his hero. It’ll be interesting to see what he wants to be when he’s 13 …)
I know it shouldn’t catch me off guard, but one of the kids asked me what I wanted to be. You know, when I grow up.
Instead of telling them I wanted to be a travel-writer (which would be so totally awesome – but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t actually pay any sort of bills), I informed them that I was grown up and I was a software engineer. (A SENIOR software engineer at that! I apparently just made the jump with years of experience, that’s my new job title at my new job!)
Ironically, the programmer-to-be wrinkled his nose and asked what that was. Li’l g informed him that it had to do with computers, and I said that yes, I write computer software. I think it caught the kids by surprise – both that I was really a grown-up AND that I had such a serious-sounding job.
Hopefully now they’ll remember that I’m a real-live grown up. Old enough, even, to be their mother.