When I Grow Up

Last Friday evening, we attended the "graduation ceremony" of my nephew, who has just finished kindergarten at a local Montessori school. The program for the ceremony included a section entitled "When I grow up...", in which each of the soon-to-be first graders wrote a simple sentence describing their dreams for the future.

As would be expected of six-year-olds, the results were a humorous mix of the mundane and the unexpected. Sometimes you can tell right away how much imagination and motivation these future leaders will have. This year's batch of dreamers included the usual suspects:

"I want to be a teacher." — Megan

"I want to be a ballerina." — Emily

"I want to be a veterinarian." — Zoe

"I want to be a doctor." — Nicholas

"I want to be a mom." — Alina

"I want to be an astronaut." — Nicolas

"I want to work at Build-A-Bear and be a nurse." — Olivia

"I want to be a pilot." — Hayden

"I want to be an artist." — Jasmine

"I want to work at the zoo and take care of the animals." — Camryn

"I want to count money, like my mom." — Evan

"I want to be a princess." — Allyson

"I want to be a paleontologist when I grow up." — Isbah

Of course, there is always one dreamer who is ready to reach for the unobtainable, and this class was no exception:

"I want to be a grown-up." — Ernestina

'Attagirl, Ernestina! Reach for the stars!

As the man once said, "Kids say the darnedest things!"