Today I’m linking up with Momfessionals (a.k.a. one of the cutest mom blogs ever) and sharing about what little ol’ me wanted to be when I grew up. Oh boy! Here we go. 🙂
I think most little kids have one job in particular that they dream of doing one day, and younger Erica was no exception. For as long as I can remember I wanted to be the 5 o’clock news anchor before eventually moving my way up the ladder and making it big with either ABC or NBC as one of their national anchors in NYC. I’m telling you – big dreams! Whenever someone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I’d respond with “to be the next Katie Couric”. I smile just typing this because I can remember that 15 year old so well who was always confident that she’d find a way to make her dreams come true.
In high school I had a passion for writing and reporting, so I joined our school’s newspaper staff as well as became a teen contributor for our local newspaper The Huntsville Times. I knew that television broadcasting and written journalism all went hand-in-hand, so I focused on the journalism part until I got to college.
Then-Governor of Alabama Bob Riley came to visit my high school, so I begged to get out of class to interview him for the school paper. Super cool experience!
Funny story about this picture. 🙂 During the spring semester of my senior year of high school I was an office aide, and a mom came into the attendance office to check out her son. She asked the attendance lady if Alabama head football coach Mike Shula had a recruiting visit scheduled, but the attendance lady told her “No, we definitely would have known about that!”. The mom went on and on about how she swore it was him in the parking lot, so I bolted out of the office and down to my journalism teacher’s classroom. I interrupted her english class, grabbed the camera and journalism badge, and went on a hunt. I peeked into the head football coach’s office window, and there he was! I waited outside for a few minutes for them to come out, and the principal and assistant principal were with him. I asked if I could ask him a couple questions for the school paper and eventually snuck in a personal picture with him. I remember it like yesterday! At this point I already knew I was going to attend UA in a few months, so meeting Coach Shula was incredible!
Anyway!
One reason I attended The University of Alabama was because my best friends were going there their communications department is ranked in the top 10 for public schools in the nation. I was giddy during orientation as we listened to different professors (namely Mr. Oakley) share stories about where their former students are now, and my dreams just kept growing. I officially declared my major as Journalism and was ready to rock and roll.
One year later I felt big-time discouraged after a conversation with my advisor who let me know that my journalism major would prep me only for a job as a written journalist, not as a news anchor. Since becoming a news anchor was my ultimate goal, he advised I switch my major to Broadcasting, so I did.
After researching the backgrounds of some of my favorite anchors, I realized that most of them started their careers as newspaper journalists, so I continued my hand at reporting. I spent the summer shadowing a local newspaper journalist in Huntsville and joined the university’s newspaper staff as a contributing writer as soon as I started my sophomore year. My first article turned out to be the front page centerpiece article, and I felt sky high! I’ll never forgetting going to pick up a copy of the Crimson White and seeing that “by” line with my name beside it.
Fast forward to the spring semester of my sophomore year. I’d been dating Jamie for a few months and had a hunch early on that he very well might be the guy I marry. I was frustrated because I’d been working hard for months trying to land a broadcasting internship for the summer and was having zero luck getting my foot in the door. As I did more research about the ladder news anchors typically have to climb I realized that the first few years entail jobs that I didn’t want, though I’d be willing to do them if I wasn’t falling in love with this Army guy.
Well, darn.
At the same time that I was feeling very frustrated with my major, I was also working part-time at my church’s local daycare. I loved that job and every single thing about it. I loved working with a whole room of people every day, I loved interacting with parents, and I loved the schedule (no holidays, no weekends, no evenings, etc.). I was so happy doing that job.
For about a month I took some time to realistically look at what I was doing, where I was going, and what I truly wanted as an adult now that I had a little bit more information. Though I’d always dreamed of becoming a big time news anchor, I didn’t want the lifestyle and the schedule that came with it. I also knew that I wanted a future with Jamie and that his future meant the Army.
As an adult I started realizing what I really wanted out of a career and that teaching had all of those things. I quickly realized that teaching high school English sounded like a dream. I could still use and share my passion of writing with others while having the schedule I never knew that I’d always dreamed of.
And if things worked out with this Army guy, I could hopefully have both him and my career, too. 🙂
The final nail in the coffin happened on a Wednesday night at a big worship service called The Well. My college minister Ben was preaching, and as he lead everyone in a closing prayer he prayed for everyone who was wrestling with major life decisions. I kid you not, the first thing out of his mouth was “God, maybe there’s someone in this room who’s considering becoming a teacher one day, but they’re scared to make the leap”. I burst into tears because I knew what I had to do.
So in April of my sophomore year I officially changed my major. I was immediately a whole year behind in classes, so the next few years were really busy as I took on heavy course loads to catch up.
I loved nearly every second of my education classes and never once regretted my decision to switch career paths. I wouldn’t say that being a teacher is absolutely my dream job, but being a teacher does have so many of my passions and dreams wrapped up into it just like I knew it would, which kind of does make it a dream job. 🙂 I loved working as a teacher for a few years and feel anxious to return to the classroom in a few years once the time is right.
As far as becoming a news anchor goes, I still find myself wondering how different life would be if I would have hit the ground running to reach that goal. Sometimes I watch Good Morning America and wonder if they’re having as much fun as they look like they are, and I wonder if I would have loved it that much too. I fortunately don’t have a single regret about giving up that high school dream because I feel like I’ve achieved every checkmark I’ve ever wanted – to marry the love of my life and become a mom. Anything else I achieve career-wise is just extra. 🙂
Here’s a previous post from a link up with Momfessionals:
Show & Tell: Where Our Names Come From
Questions:
Do I have any readers that, by chance, also dreamed of becoming a news anchor?
Do any of my military wife readers also have teaching degrees? Do you feel like your teaching degree is as conducive to military life as you hoped it would be?
It really is amazing to look back and see how goals and dreams change as you get older. 🙂
It really is! I'm glad I have all of this written down because I'm sure my thoughts on all of this will chance once again in a few years as I develop new dreams and goals. 🙂
I definitely wish I had chosen a different career path, but now that I'm entrenched in this one, I find it hard to let it go… Definitely need to start pursuing my next path, but I think that will be put on hold for the time being…
This is great. I'm 28 and a mama of four and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up! lol 😉 goals and dreams change, and I think overall that's a good thing. 😉
I always wanted to be a writer but I ended up majoring in Public Admin & Social Sciences (which I loved because I find people & society to be crazy fascinating). I worked in a few careers and kept transferring around until…now I'm a writer! Somehow it all came full-circle for me.
I went to school majoring in broadcast production, because I wanted to be a video editor. But then I fell in love with the entry level journalism class I had to take. So I switched my major my sophomore to journalism. I loved it, and eventually became editor of the college newspaper. After college, I got a job as a reporter for a newspaper … and I hated it! Ha! It turns out, like you said, I hated the schedule and hours that I had to work. Now, I do freelance writing so that I can do what I love but make my own hours. I loved reading how we have some things in common!
I never wanted to work as a news anchor, but I started college majoring in marine biology. I always dreamed of living in Florida and swimming with dolphins and whales every day haha Since then, I have changed my major more times than I can count. In addition to that, I also became a Marine Wife and started my blog, High Heels & Combat Boots which I love SO much. I now want to turn that passion into a career. I'm currently finishing up my B.A. in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations and will then go off to graduate school for a degree in Nonprofit Management. I dream of someday working for organizations like Operation Homefront or the Wounded Warrior Project and helping other military families and service members. It's definitely taken a while to narrow down exactly what I want to do.
Haha my husband and I were joking a couple days ago how we still don't feel like grown ups, so maybe we have a little bit more time to figure out what we want to do once we're there. 😉
I think my problem is that I can't stop writing. My fingers get all twitchy. 😉 So I tech write all day for my software firm and then, when I have an extra few minutes, I blog. When my blog is all booked solid then I creative write. I'm hoping to launch a freelance writing side business soon. I'm crazy, I know.
Well, when I lived in Georgia I was freelancing with two local newspapers and two local magazines. But when I moved to Indiana a couple months ago, I had to leave those places because although I did my interviews and writing from home, they wanted someone local to be able to go get pictures sometimes. Since I moved, I haven't started back up yet. Right now, I'm really focusing on growing and improving my blog.
Love always wins! So glad your story has a happy ending and you enjoyed your job and now enjoy the best roles in life (in my opinion!) I always play the what if game too, which is fun and I'm STILL dreaming up jobs I might like to do, ha!
Now I'm slightly jealous that she gets to swim with dolphins all day haha I wanted to work at Sea World or in sea turtle rehabilitation. I still think it would be an amazing job, but I hate getting wet and I wouldn't like not being able to dress up for work haha I also like painting my nails and doing my makeup. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm too girly for it haha
But I LOVE my blog. It's so much fun to connect with people and make new friends. I'm hoping to get involved in a nonprofit as a volunteer after we PCS 🙂
I actually like my industry, its the people that make it so difficult…! But I wouldn't mind opening up my own boutique hotel!
Christina, I'm in love with the way you worded that – "love always wins"! So, so true and I think that's exactly how it should be!!
Oh wow! What an Incredible story! I had no idea!! My degree is in marketing, but my sister is also a military spouse and working on the teaching thing. For now, she subs, but it does seem like it would make a great job.
OMG your sister is a military spouse too?! SO IS MINE! Don't you love having a sister who just "gets" this lifestyle?! I'm so thankful for it.
YES!! It's the best!! You're like the first person I know that has a mil spouse sister.