Thursday, March 10, 2011

Childhood Dreams

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Most of us can remember things we dreamed of doing as kids. In fact, some of us even had more than one dream so it was hard to imagine which one to pick.

I will say, that's one awesome thing about living in a free country. You can dream of becoming anything you want to be. The possibilities are endless, right? I mean, I swore I was going to be a teacher. Mom says that from the time I was little, I always played "school" and I was always the teacher. Am I a teacher? Nope! That's a whole other story for another day.

Mom believed strongly in keeping kids busy to keep them out of trouble so we were all signed up for things all the time. My sisters were always so athletic and involved in so many things. They played volleyball and softball among other things and they rode horses. I was always kept busy too, but mine was more in gymnastics, dance classes, and for a while cheer leading. Mom even put me in swimming classes which I hated for some reason. I don't know if someone tried to drown me once or what, but I could not learn to swim in that class.

I was always kinda jealous of my sisters because they were so athletic. Sister #3 always picked on me, and still does to this day, that I did gymnastics and other things because I wasn't coordinated enough to play sports. Really? Let me see your ass do a flip on the uneven parallel bars with no coordination, missy! You'd end up looking more like this...
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The balance beam was no picnic either, believe me. But gymnastics definitely gave me flexibility which according to ib over at the Habitual Hobbit makes me naughty (in his post a while back) because I can still bend over and put my hands flat on the floor.

When we moved to New Mexico, it became a big thing for me and my friends to go to the base pool every day. We spent hours cooking in the desert sun, and it was hot as hell for someone who didn't really know how to swim. I mean, I could tread water and do the strokes, but anything that involved putting my head underwater was not happening. Needless to say, I got my ass kicked when I would try to race friends.

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I think I finally asked Sister #3 one day how she was able to hold her breath under water without holding her nose, and she just kinda told me to blow out through my nose while I was underwater. I ended up teaching myself how to do it, basically. After that, I was the SHIT in the swimming pool. That one little thing had eluded me since I was a young child, and just setting my mind to it by myself was all it took.

One day my best friend and I were racing in the pool. I was kicking her tail, as was the trend since I had conquered the water. When we got out of the pool to rest for a little bit, Amy went to get us something to drink. This grown man walks up to me and tells me he had been watching Amy and I in the pool. Well, this was before the days of "Stranger Danger" and we really didn't find anything creepy about that statement. It turned out he was a swim coach who was trying to put together a swim team on base. He was impressed with our swimming abilities and wanted us to come try out.

We were so excited! We would get to swim in a much bigger pool, and we would basically be training by doing exactly what we did every day anyway. We showed up and quickly learned that the hardest part of racing was learning how to dive in the pool properly.
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You don't get to just dive in and think you are going to look like this. I mean, you notice the one that went the deepest in that picture? Yeah, that person will probably LOSE that race all because of the dive. You can't go too deep or it slows you down majorly. So Coach would make us dive into the pool in the shallow end to scare us out of going too deep. I mean, scrape your face on the bottom of the pool one good time, and you'll learn not to do that anymore! Yeah, I did it. 'Cuz I'm adventurous like that. But I belly flopped more than anything trying to make sure I didn't go too deep.

Anyway, we had a blast that summer. I was probably in the best shape ever because of all of the swimming I did, and I'd ride my bike to the pool every day. I was a bit high on myself because I found that I could beat other people besides Amy. I was actually pretty damn good.

Unfortunately, the Air Force had another visions for us... or at least for our fathers. Both of them got orders to move to other bases. We moved to South Carolina, and I can't remember where Amy moved to. Because my father was planning to retire here, they ended up buying a house so we didn't live on base for the first time in my life. Of course, this meant I had no freakin' access to a pool. They really didn't have one in town except at the YMCA, and their pool wasn't that big. They also didn't have swim teams or any open swimming times. I was crushed. Out went my childhood dreams of becoming a competitive swimmer, and to me, doing something that was a hell of a lot more athletic than what my sisters had done.
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The Olympics were always a big deal in our house, especially when it was only every 4 years. Watching the gymnastics and the swimmers was always huge for me. Now I will pretty much watch every bit of it. I live vicariously through these athletes, and I feel so much emotion with their wins and losses. I don't know how many times I've cried from watching them. At least I get to help root for them to make all of their childhood dreams come true.

(As a side note: I was VERY disappointed in NBC's coverage of the last Olympics. Where the hell were all of the personal interest stories we usually have to give us more background on the athletes?? They have two jobs in the world of sports... Horse racing and the freakin' Olympics! Get it right next time.)

So what were your childhood dreams? What did you crazy folks want to be when you grew up?

38 comments:

Oilfield Trash said...

Great post.

My child hood dream was to get away from my parents as fast as I could. Which I achieved at age 16.

J.Day said...

When I was little, I wanted to be a jockey. LOL Then I wanted to be a vet. I'm now learning cattle ranching.

katsidhe said...

I love how you began with something that you weren't good at and then kicked it ASS, girlfriend!

It *is* a little sad that you had to move before really competing, but you have the thrill of knowing that you owned everyone else that you raced in the pool.

Loved this entry.~

Jumble Mash said...

What a great story!! I remember the base swimming pools. They were always PACKED with people.

I always wanted to be a zoo keeper so that I could play with tigers. LOL

Krissy said...

OT.. I'm glad you got your dream, but I'm sorry you needed to have that one.

J.Day.. See how our lives change? But at least all of yours involved animals.

Kat.. Yeah, it's pretty cool knowing no one at the time I had raced could beat me, and I mastered something I was afraid of beforehand. I went out on top, so to speak! :)

JM.. Yeah, trying to race at the base pool was fun without running over people. But we got the other pool to ourself for the team swims. Ummmm... So you could PLAY with tigers? Girl, I think you would be a chew toy for tigers. :)

Al Penwasser said...

I had several dreams:
1. Wanted to play professional baseball. Nope on that one.
2. Wanted to fix jets on an aircraft carrier. I actually did that.
3. Wanted to get out of the Navy after four years and go to school to become a teacher. I finally got out after 27 years (hey, I liked the hats and the color gray) so that dream kinda fell by the wayside.
4. I wanted to be a professional writer. I'm still waiting for a check from Blogger.
By the way, I also remember the base swimming pools. When I was a young sailor, it was the place to go meet hot young dependent daughters. As I got older and had a daughter of my own, I shooed away all the young sailors.
All in all, I'm happy with how things have turned out.

Yvonne said...

I wanted to be an actress and then I wanted to be a teacher and then a singer and then writer. I'm none of those things, well, I am a writer, I just haven't published anything except short essays and stories. lol That counts right? My parents both worked two jobs to put us through private schools, so we never saw them. I think my mom just hoped we wouldn't fall into the bad crowd. Which we didn't. ;)

that guy said...

i wanted to be a popsickle man.

i still may do that....

Krissy said...

Al.. I'm still waiting for that check from Blogger too, or at least from Google. I've made $0.16 there. Wooo hooo! Would you people get to clickin' on some ads? :) We didn't see many GI's at the base pool there, but we were in the middle of the desert so it was packed with kids. I'm sure other bases are different.

Yvonne.. Yes, that counts! And you write for us, wonderfully. :) Your mom did her job then, right? And she was trying to make your dreams come true, or at least I'd like to think so.

Bruce.. WTF is a Popsicle Man? I want to see pictures when you achieve that, Mr. Tucker-says-I-have-a-problem-with-ice.

that guy said...

the guy that sells popsicles.

the little freezer with a bkie behind it...

i guess it could also be the ice cream man.

or i could be a hotdog guy!

Krissy said...

Bruce... Okay, ice cream man I understand, ya damn Yankee. :) Love me some popsicles or better yet creamsicles in the summertime.

Amy Cappelli said...

I wanted to be a farmer. I wanted land and horses. The closest thing to rural life that I ever got to experience was owning a llama (6 years ago) that I kept at my friends' house in the country. We got to keep him in our backyard in the city for one summer. It was crazy but it was the most fun I think I have ever had.

Krissy said...

A... That had to be a riot! At least you got that experience. Llamas are kinda like horses, right? Although I have a tattoo of a horse, and not a llama.

THUNDERCAT said...

When I was little I wanted to be a horse. A damn horse...Yep, something was really wrong with me!

Krissy said...

Thundercat... Tell me it wasn't a horse with a thong. :) Horses are powerful! Who wouldn't want to be a horse? I have a tattoo of a horse. Does that count?

On My Soapbox said...

I don't remember what I wanted to be. However, I started instructing gymnastics when I was about 12 and then music after that. I got my degree in Education because I couldn't think of anything better at the time and knew I needed to get a degree in *something*. But do I teach now? Nope!

Krissy said...

Soapbox... You don't remember what you wanted to be? That must be because you have no regrets and ended up right where you needed to be. :)

Full-On-Forward said...

This post is Phenomenal! And I totally agree about the Back Stories! They MAKE the Athlete, Astronaut or Cowboy or Whomever!

But let's hear the Story!

Again,

GREAT POST!

John

I did want to Play Pro Football--and did get as far as College--which was kinda cool!

A Beer for the Shower said...

Excellent post.

I wanted to be a writer. And now I am. I'm nearly broke, I have no job, and my parents wonder where I went wrong, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Here's to living the dream!

Don said...

TV was in its infancy when I was a kid. Radio was the thing, so I wanted to be a radio announcer, but couldn't. I changed from wanting to "be" to wanting to "do", which was to travel and see new places, so I had a career in the military. I was stationed in Georgia, Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Texas, plus Germany, Libya, Turkey, Iran, Philippine's, and Johnston Island. So I got to see all those places plus points in-between.

Nicki said...

I am so, so glad I'm not the only one who adores the Olympics. I have a borderline obsession with them. Anyone who rolls their eyes at the Winter Olympics needs a reality check.

Great post, btw.

Tom said...

i never wanted to grow up. Grown ups suck donkey hoof. I mean really, they are so grumpy.
But if I ever got the chance, I had my heart set on taking over a smallish country. Like Canada.

Krissy said...

John.. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! The back stories are what it's all about, dammit. You got farther on your dream than a lot of people do.

Beer.. I'm glad your dream came true... uhh, I think? LOL

Don.. I love that we got to travel so much when I was young. I wish I had been older for it all though.

Nicki.. We are going to be BFF's next year when the Summer Olympics roll around again then. :)

Tom.. Do boys ever really grow up? And wow, your aim was small at wanting to take over Canada! LOL

VEG said...

I enjoyed this! And I'm jealous you got to live in the desert. :)

I practically lived in the water myself as a kid. I loved it and learned to swim when I was five or so. I still love the pool to this day. One thing I never mastered though was diving. It's a mental thing. I just can NOT let myself flip over to go in head/arms first. I've tried everything. I'm baffled. :)

I wanted to be a long distance truck driver as a kid. Seriously. All the other little girls were all, "I want to teach! I want to be a nurse!" Not me. I wanted a job where you normally need balls and a beard. Between that and my love of toy matchbox cars, my parents were probably concerned I'd come home one day in my teens with a buzz cut and a girl named "Andy". They almost had a party when I started having crushes on boys. :)

Krissy said...

Assassin.. Imagine that. You having a mental thing. :) This comment is sooo going in my best comments ever post.. Whenever I do one. You are a hoot, woman. And see? Comments go on the BOTTOM!

Anonymous said...

First I wanted to be a doctor, then a rockstar, then a singer, then a famous flautist, then a novelist, journalist, psychiatrist, now I just want to be a pharmacist and someday have a family.

Krissy said...

Adorkable.. I don't think "just" is the way to describe the dreams you have now. Those are great dreams!

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