Dream Big Little Girl, Dream Big.
A Big Bright World Awaits You.
You know how we are supposed to teach our children that warm-fuzzy saying "You can be anything you want to be!" ? Well I grew up hearing that. And I grew up believing it! Until my entire family told me otherwise. You see, between the ages of 4-6 I desperately wanted to be a Fire Engine. You read that correctly.
A Fire. Engine.
When the subject of future careers came into play, my little imagination would run wild and I'd burst out with "I'm going to be a fire engine!!"
I didn't want to be.
I didn't wish to be.
I was GOING to be.
For years my family tried to convince me otherwise, and tried to explain what I really meant.
Fools. I knew what I wanted.
Because I was taught I could be anything I wanted, right?
And then came the ripe 'ol age of 6. We were on a family vacation to San Fransisco. While riding a trolley I had the wind blowing my short mushroom-looking haircut, not a care in the world. And then it happened. A LOUD Fire Truck (which, yes, included an engine..) roared past us lights flashing, sirens blaring. I burst into tears and have never spoken of wanting to become anything related to a large red utility truck since that day. I also had a huge fear of loud noises since that fateful day.
Well friends, it seems that our little miss Audrey Lynn has inherited more than just my dark hair, my dark eyes, my sensitivity and my love of french fries. From a very early age she has been terrified of loud noises above a volume of about a two. Terrified. Vacuums is a big one. Public toilets flushing. Any buzzing sound she automatically assumes it's about to turn into a loud angry roar. Blenders, bathroom fans, laundry washers beginning their cycle, kitchen timers, toasters popping...
It runs in the family. Big Time.
When I was little, I remember being at school and getting the heads up that we'd be having a fire drill "sometime today". What an awful thing to tell a child that is scared of loud noises. I would get sick to my stomach & on several occasions I would actually have to go home. On some of my more "brave" days I would be shaky and fearful the entire day, pretending I was either bored or real sleepy with my hair pulled down over my ears and my hands clasping my chin (when actually I had as many fingers as I could get shoved into my ear drums to drown out the sounds of what I was dreading). What was worse was when the teacher would announce it would be "sometime this week". Two, three sometimes FIVE long days would go by and then we'd be told that infact "because of the rain, the fire drill was re-scheduled for next week instead."
Relief and fear all at once.
But this post really isn't about me and my childhood fears. It's about passing on more than just my outward appearance. It's about Audrey and her love of fire engines.
Recently, Audrey informed us that "maybe someday I could be a fire truck!" We laughed and carefully taught her that maybe she could! But she meant she wanted to be a fireman!
(don't even suggest we are not teaching her appropriate gender and politically correct terms. If she is anything like me, she will also inherit a tremendous lack of arm strength and a dislike for smokey places. Therefore, she may never be an actual fire-person..thus leaving it to a man, a fireman.)
And then today. While on a wagon walk this evening with my girls, a fire truck crossed an intersection in front of us, as we waited at the stop sign. Audrey lit up.
"Look Mommy!! A Fire truck!! Maybe someday I will be a fire engine!!"
She didn't say fireman, she didn't even say fire truck. And she didn't say she'd like to be. She said she WILL someday be a fire engine. Although...I am sure once she hears a loud siren she will forever be traumatized like me. But somehow I think the idea of wanting to be whatever she wants to be, including a fire engine, may have also been genetically passed on to her...
(Pssst...With all the Joy you had in saying it, I Believe You.)
