The Best of Both Worlds

This post was inspired as part of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop

with my thanks for providing an outlet in which to express myself!

3.) If you had made a career out of whatever you were passionate about when you were ten...what would you be doing?

Like many other girls my age, I was passionate about teaching when I was ten.  I had been a lifelong learner, after all.  It seemed like the only natural progression.  Basically, it was all I knew.  I was selected that year for the Talented and Academically Gifted (TAG) Program.  I actually went on to graduate as valedictorian of my high school twenty years ago this coming June.

I remember playing school for hours on end with my identical twin sister.  We had library books, attendance sheets, demerit slips, and of course, bathroom passes.  The two of us would play for hours on end.  We never tired of the same routine.  This was lucky for my parents, since we amused ourselves and didn’t require any expensive toys.

We had one woman who refused to be called a “teacher” but instead preferred to be called a “facilitator”.  Being ten, I wasn’t sure what that meant.  Now I know that she really wanted to help us help ourselves.

And in that sense, I did not want to be a teacher anymore.  I wanted to be a facilitator.  This new nomenclature followed the same storyline as the proverb “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

I actually did go on to become an instructor, a trainer, and an adjunct professor.

The only other thing most girls this age wanted was to follow in their mother’s footsteps.  I did both.  Mom graduated with an undergraduate degree in accounting.  I did too.  I also went on to get my Master’s in Business Administration and pass the Certified Public Accountant Exam. 

You see, I combined both of these objectives. 

I became an adjunct professor teaching Managerial Accounting.

My bio on a creative writing site asked me to describe the story of my life.  Part of it reads:  Passion. Learning One New Thing Each Day (and sharing it with others). Desire to do my best not be the best.

This is my best attempt at trying to share something with you.