The Book Of Me Written By You~Prompt 38~When I grow up I want to be...


I am participating in Julie Goucher's activity:

Prompt for week 38 is ~ When I grow up I want to be...

Yes, what did you want to be?

What inspired you?

Did you become what you wanted to be or did you do something different?

- was that deliberate or simply the way things worked out?

Did you follow your childhood dream and it not be at all what you though?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I was two years old, my mother already knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. Of course,  she told me about this when I became much older, I was at least in my teenage years.

I myself never thought about what I was going to be when I grew up. I was a playful kid and didn't bother myself with things of that nature. It was all about having fun and living each day as it came.

At the end of my sophomore year of high school I needed to choose classes for the following year. I noticed on the list of classes there were R.O.P. (Regional Occupational Program) courses offered. There was a Cosmetology class that I decided I wanted to take. 

If I took this R.O.P. course it meant I only spent a couple of hours in high school a day and the rest of the day at the R.O.P. program. You needed to be really on track and passing all of your classes to take an R.O.P. course. I thought this would be great fun. Luckily, I was on track with my classes to make it work.

The program here in California requires 1600 hours of training to complete school. Then there were the State Board tests you had to pass to get licensed. 

My junior and senior year in high school I went to 2-3 classes at the high school in the morning, went to lunch and then on to the R.O.P. class until 4:30 Tuesday's through Friday. Saturdays I was at the Cosmetology school 8 hours, every week. The summer between my junior and senior year I took off from school. 

It was about a month after I graduated high school when I  graduated from Cosmetology School. A short time later I had passed the written and physical State Board tests (the first time I took each of the tests) and found my Cosmetology License in the mail within a few weeks after taking the State Board exams. By mid August I was working, in my so called "career," at age 17. A couple of weeks later I became of age.

My career of 30 years was a great one. I never looked at it as a career, even when I went to school for it. I went because I loved playing with hair and being creative. My mother told me when I started Cosmetology School at age 15, she knew I would be in this field. She said ever since I was 2 years old I would play with everyone's hair I could get my hands on. It started when I would sit on the back of the couch and comb my grandfather's hair, yes, when I was 2. As I grew older, I eventually had a vanity and chair in my room. Anyone I could get to sit in that chair was stuck with me playing with their hair!

After I retired from Cosmetology, I eventually found myself working for a company doing payroll and accounting. No I never went to school for that, but suddenly there I was, in what was my  second favorite choice, working with numbers! 

(Deep down, when I was younger, I truly think, I believed I was destined to be a bookkeeper...)

I had not one, but two careers. Both involved the two things I loved most. I was very fortunate, and I know it. Most people are lucky to work in their first career choice. But, how many worked in their second choice too?

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 




 Copyright © 2014 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

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