Finally?

After another tumultuous month, it looks like we are finally geared up to move. Just when it looked like things were doomed, we finally got a contract signed on the old house, and our realtor was able to push the closing for the same day as the closing on the new house. So, if things continue to go as smoothly as they've gone in the last couple days, we'll be moving in a short two weeks! Very scary, very stressful, and extremely exciting... We can hardly wait.

Maybe?

We are expecting another offer to come in for our house in the next day or two. If everything looks good, we should finally be back on track for moving sometime in July. It would be nice if the timing worked out so we could close on both the old and new houses at the same time. Then we could move all of our stuff at once instead of worrying about a double move, storage, etc. All in all, the last couple months have been very draining for us, so it'll be nice when it's all over and we have a brand-new house to show for it!

When I grow up...

Today was a particularly lousy day at work. Not because the work is bad but because there was nothing to do. This has been a recurring theme on this project as we continue to ramp up. Things will get better in short order, but today was just one of those days that was frustratingly long because there was nothing of any significance to be done. So, on the way home, the little voice inside my head asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I suppose it might be a little strange to ask such a question at my age, but I can still remember my father saying not that long ago that he still doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up. He's been saying that, I assume, as long as he's held his current job: thirty years.

There are some great things about my job. The one word I would use to describe it is "safe." It's stable, it's relatively stress-free, it pays very well, there are opportunities for advancement, and the hours are nice. But, a software engineer is not what I really want to be when I grow up. I think I'd rather be a park ranger, or a musician, or maybe a middle school history teacher during the school year and a camp counselor every summer. I think I'd rather do something where I can be outside all day instead of looking up over my dual 20" monitors to stare out the window. But, my job is safe. And I'm not going anywhere, at least not anytime soon. There are a lot worse jobs out there than mine, and I still feel pretty lucky to have had such a successful career thus far.

So, in the end, I was just daydreaming today about what I'd like to do with my time in a perfect world. In ten or twenty years, will I have found the courage to try something new, exciting, and unsafe? Or, will I still be sitting at the computer keyboard, staring at code, and wondering, like my father, about what I want to be when I grow up?

Anyone else have similar thoughts? Would you do something different if you could break away from the safety of your career? What do you want to be when you grow up?