When I Grow Up

When my son was growing up, he wanted to become a traffic policeman – the cool glasses, the motorbike, the excuse to speed in the chase of traffic offenders and make them pull over, well that’s understandable I suppose… 

I, on the other hand, was absolutely fascinated by garbage-men as a toddler and my mother told me that the dearest ambition of my life until the age of about seven was to grow up to be a garbage collector – partly because I had got the idea that they worked only on Tuesdays.

I also nursed the more usual ambitions of being a famous jungle explorer, the scientist-inventor of a radical formula to revolutionize the world of medicine, a rock star and the president.

Looking back, am I happy at what I turned out to be? Sure, I may not have made millions and my name may not be carved in the annals of history but at the end of the day, I’ve raised a wonderful son, made a difference in the lives of hundreds of kids through my teaching and met the love of my life Alice at a time when I had lost all hope of this.

I’ve woken up to so many, many days of ordinary, everyday happiness… and you know what, that sure makes me feel glad I grew up to be me….