I’m going to say it. Here goes. Ready…? My Dad was right. Did you hear that Dad? (I can hear him chortling hundreds of miles away). But what is he right about you ask? Well… When I was 15 I decided what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I know, most of you are laughing and asking ‘and how many times did you change your mind after that’? But no, really. I have known from the time I was 15 that I wanted to teach English. I distinctly remember a day, sitting in the living room with my dad, toward the end of my sophomore year in high school. We talked at length about jobs and making money versus being fulfilled in your career. We talked about what jobs would always be in demand, and what jobs were more transient. We talked about what jobs would give life meaning and which would make you seem powerful. Up until that time, when people had asked what I wanted to be when I grew I had answered glibly “a lawyer”. It was something that seemed cool and I knew they made a lot of money, and having grown up without much money that seemed like a good idea. Looking back now, I suspect my dad started that conversation in the living room because he was worried about my soul. He didn’t think lawyer was the job for me, and he wanted to get out in front of it. From where I sit now, 30 years later, I’m glad of it. He was right. Not that I couldn’t have been a lawyer, because I think I could have, but because that wouldn’t have brought the same value and joy to my life that teaching has. But that isn’t even the thing I’m thinking of my dad being right about (oh jeez, I can hear him now…”you mean I was right about two things!”)...
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Wendy Picard GorhamWendy lives and works in the midst of words everyday--English teacher by profession, and writer by passion! Archives
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