Life's Calling

The other day I asked Nate what he would like to be when he grows up. His first response: a-duh-no.

So I rephrased it. If you could do one thing, starting tomorrow, for the rest of your life, what would it be? Second response: you know that guy that gets to test all the new sodas and soft drinks? I want to be that. I explained that would most likely include lots of sciences, certainly chemistry and math. Since those are his strong subjects in school we decided that would be a cool option for him to consider, but it may be hard to get a job doing that since there may be limited employers looking for that position.

Then I asked if there was anything else? Third answer: mass murderer. Unacceptable. Lots of giggles.

One more time. Anything else? Fourth choice: kindergarten teacher. Aha! Something I can work with. We talked about how he likes hanging out with the little kids when we are with our friends, that he likes teaching them stuff, and that it is (sometimes) cool to have them all follow him around. (Which is all true, our friends kids all follow Nate around like the Pied Piper. They all adore him, love playing with him, always ask if he'll be around. Some have even had dreams about hanging out with him.) We decided it might be fun to do some babysitting this summer to check it out (and earn some extra video game money). There will be more on that later...

Things went so well with Nate, I figured I'd ask Rex about his career choices. I know, I'm rushing things. High school, college, and the work force are much further along in his future but I thought his response would be interesting.

I was not disappointed. The response: A real whip killer. A what? Whip killer. Don't know about you, but I needed an explanation. Turns out, a whip killer is much like Indiana Jones. He is an explorer, however he only uses his whip to kill the bad guys. I knew it, very interesting.

Don't worry, I plan to check in with his choice in a few years.