List 18 - My Dream Jobs

Okay, friends, it's time for the Friday list.  Let's pretend today.  (Or, as I said as a child, 'Let's ten-like.')  [Or, as my sister said as a child, 'Let's benten.']  Call it what you will, it's time to undertake a bit of make-believe.

Let's imagine that there are no barriers, money is no object, no training or education is needed.  What would you do, even if just for a day?  What would you like to try?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I'll go first.

When I grow up, I want to be:

1. One of the people who looks awesome in a wet suit and trains the dolphins.  I'd be the one who rides the dolphins and gets thrown, flying into the air, arching into a magnificent swan dive and entering the water gracefully to swim with my dolphin friends over to hand-feed them (I'm the only one who can feed them - they like me best).
2. Aretha Franklin.  
3. A safari guide/driver in the Serengeti.  My old Toyota Land Cruiser has been on the job for a long time and is weathered in that cool way - folks can stand up on their seats to look up and out of the open top and get a better view of the animals.  I'm a specialist at big animal location and the other drivers often search for me to find the best areas.  
4. A SCUBA diver for National Geographic, responsible for all special coral reef exploration, all over the world.  My underlings search out and find the best dive spots on the earth, and I am the first to dive their pristine waters and uncharted areas.  
5. A Mexican cliff diver.
6. Annie Leibovitz.
7. The top chick on the world's best roller derby team.  
8. The host of a super cool travel show on tv.  My people scope out unknown travel spots, which I am flown to.  I am wined and dined by the locals and stay in the best suite.  I'm daring, so sometimes I am in quiet corners where no Americans have been.  My experiences are varied, affording me amazing adventures that are fun to talk about with my tv viewers.
9. A stunt pilot whose plane is uncrashable.
10. An artist, author, anthropologist combination who lives in a historic beamed cabin on the top of a mountain in the forest, surrounded by amazing views, artistic pieces, fine wine and fabulous friends.  

Ahhhhhhh.  That was fun.  Try it!  Put your career options in the comments section of the blog - I want you all to meet each other!  

Loosen up, friends, and ten-like you can do anything!  Go for it!  

Miss Nelson may be missing, but Viola Swamp is tired!

I say this often, I know, but I re-learned something on Friday.  I learned something I keep being taught again and again.  You know how that goes.

Friday was Read Across America day, Dr. Seuss' birthday, and an all-around awesome day for schools to promote reading.  I got invited by the third grade at my children's school to dress up and come in to read.  I was delighted to do so.  Since they said I could choose my character, I quickly settled on Viola Swamp. I guess it's possible that you don't know who Viola is (well, it's probably probable).  Harry Allard wrote a book called Miss Nelson is Missing, in which a sweet, demure teacher dresses up as scary old hag of a substitute to show her students how lucky they are.  To put it mildly, the kids DO NOT enjoy Ms. Swamp and can't wait for the return of Miss Nelson, so her plan works.

Viola Swamp is ugly, with a creepy nose, crazy hair, and a horrific personality.  She's awful!  She's loud, she's cruel and she wants no fun!  Playing the part of Viola was fun.  It was funny waking up, creating a creepy nose, giving myself a couple of horrible blemishes, applying the blue eye shadow and the extra-long eyelashes and donning the massive wig.  It was fun throwing my kids in the car and laughing with them when folks turned to stare as we drove down the street.  And it was fun, to be sure, to read to countless children, making them laugh and engaging them in a story.  (If you have never been lucky enough to read to a group of kids, to watch those wide eyes and happy faces, then you should try it.)

'Being' Viola was fun.  It was.  It was fun to play a character for a bit, to take on a different personality, to yell out in a voice I would never use.  It was fun.  And that was no surprise.

What did I re-learn on Friday?  I re-learned how very tiring it is to be somebody else.  I was reminded of how completely exhausting it is to try to be someone I am not.  I left the school, after all that fun and all of those classroom visits, and I was bushed!  I began to scrape off my make-up, threw off the ugly black clothes, pulled out the pillows and jumped in the shower.  I was ready to be me again.

Don't get me wrong, the experience was a great one.  I loved it.  I loved entertaining the kids, loved making them laugh and love hoping that they're checking out some of the books I read.  That's only possible for a short time, though.  It's too hard to be somebody else.  I can be Viola Swamp for a short time.  I can hide my own personality for a while.  But to be someone I'm not is hard.  It makes me tired.   It makes me relieved that I can be me the majority of the time.  I'm best at being me, and it's not such hard work.

I wish I could clearly explain that to my growing children and even to a few adults I know.  It's just too much work to be someone else.