Dec 4, 2023
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Cowboy. Astronaut. Doctor. I didn’t want to be any of those. The first thing I remember wanting to be when I grew up was a hermit. The idea of living in a small cabin in the woods filled with books seemed like an ideal setup. (And no, there was no cat in the picture.)
Of course, I was too young to think of the practicalities. How would I get food? I also always wanted to be a pioneer. Davy Crocket or Daniel Boone, depending on my mood. They were pretty interchangeable to my young mind.
As I got older, I wavered between wanting to be a librarian or a forest ranger. I considered a career with the CIA, probably inspired by Dorothy Gilman’s The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax series. (I gave up when I realized I was no good with languages other than English.) I had no interest in traditional female jobs like teaching or nursing.
I’ve done many jobs in my life, but the only one from the list above is librarian. I worked as a part-time librarian in a small town public library. The job only lasted about a year because we moved away. I never got to be a hermit—although life in Covid-years made it feel that way sometimes—and the closest I got to being a forest ranger was introducing girls in Girl Scouts to the joys of the out of doors. The career I retired from didn’t exist back when I was a child.
How about you? What did you want to be when you grew up? Find out about our authors and there plans by following the links below.
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
As I’ve got older, I’ve realised that there’s a lot to be said for being a hermit.
If only it paid better!
Hermits are cool, lol. I enjoyed being a library assistant back in the early 1980s. I left due to pregnancy, otherwise I’d probably still be there.
I took a course in library science my first year in college. I left that school for a variety of reasons. Later, I checked into how much full-fledged librarians earned, and it was pitiful. The pay scale wasn’t important when it was a part time job for a little extra money.
I used to be in charge of buying records and cassettes. I also used to read to the children at Story Time.
I wanted to be a librarian but I find out with my current job I want to be a hermit.
Many jobs are like that! I don’t know why so many companies believe their employees are more productive sitting in a cubicle with terrible lighting instead of working from home.
I was a librarian very briefly as well, in Kodiak, Alaska. @samanthabwriter from
Balancing Act
It makes sense that those of us who love to read and write would gravitate to that profession.