Ambition!

Some kids dream of becoming doctors. Some kids dream of becoming actors. Still others dream of becoming professional athletes, presidents, rock stars. I was not like the other kids.

One day, when I was about nine, my dearest grandmother told me "Sharann, you can be anything in the world you want to be. Don't let anyone ever stop you from becoming what you want." This resonated with me. Sure, I heard that before, but this time it was different. This was my grandmother, who knew me quite well. Not some anonymous lady on PBS. She was the one who bought me my Baby Sitters Club book each month. Who took me to get a soda during the hot, humid summers. Who taught me Irish drinking songs from the time I could talk. If she said I could be anything I wanted, I believed it. So, my heart swelled up with hope. I could do it! I could be the one thing I truly wanted to be, more than anything. For a few seconds, I felt as light as air. Then my grandmother asked me with a very chipper voice "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I sat straight up, my voice calm and confident and replied:

　

"A key."



I have to admit, my grandmother was recovered quite quickly from her confusion. Shaken only for a second, she piped "Oh! Like a key for helping people?!"

　

"No, like a key for unlocking doors. A door key. Made of metal. I want to be a door key."

　

She took a second to gather her thoughts, and I am sure to clear her mind of thoughts of what an idiot her granddaughter was. "Well, you could be a key to unlocking the cure for cancer, or becoming president." While I am sure both of those ideas made her laugh hysterically on the inside, they held no interest for me. Cancer curing and politics could be left to the kids that didn’t feel envious every time they looked at their parents’ key chains.

After that, I decided in all my childhood wisdom that maybe telling people I wanted to be a small piece of metal you bought at home depot wasn't the ideal way to win over people. From then on, whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I just said organ donor.