What do you want to be when you grow up?

I never ask a kid what he or she wants to be when they grow up because I’m all grown up and I still don’t know what I want to be. I followed all the steps…A to B to C to a formulaic college degree and all that….but other than wildly impractical dreamscapes (rock star, the new Dylan, decorated playwright who wanders NYC streets wearing a pretentious scarf while being interviewed by 60 Minutes) nothing really romantic panned out, and I’m left with the sort of job that is not even worth writing about, which is to say it’s kinda like everybody else’s job. It pays the bills but just that, and I’m constantly worried that I’m going to lose it and thus find that I’m too old to find another that’s comparable in the same field.

I’ve always envied those who knew what they wanted and never wavered. I grew up with kids who wanted to be doctors or lawyers or cops or firefighters and that’s exactly what they became. My head was too loose for this sort of thing. I could set my sights on a goal and be distracted away from it by a piece of lint on the carpet.