Thursday, 24 November 2011

Underachievers of the world unite

It was during the lunch to celebrate my last day at work that I found out that it isn't just me who feels I haven't fulfilled the dreams I had in childhood. Well to be honest I haven't fulfilled the dreams I had more recently to finish unpacking the boxes when we moved house, but that is less profound. 

When we're very young we believe we can do anything. Hubbie is convinced our son will be a lawyer (as well as being an accomplished musician, naturally) and in as much as we can help this we will. His dreams, however,  might be to be an astronaut, or - judging by how he watches Neo - to be a cat when he grows up. I still have a hankering to be a polar bear which is only really tempered when I watch Frozen Planet and see one struggling in arctic tundra without food. Also the weight thing would really mess with my head. 

The ambitions I admit to are that I wanted to be a barrister when I was at school, but my parents made it very clear that we didn't have the sort of money or connections that would help me with that. The secret dream I had was to be a blonde as I honestly believed the hype about it being more fun. 

My dreams now are far more prosaic: 

* Health and happiness for everyone I love. 
* That dress that makes me look slim under certain light in a particular mirror. 
* A seat on the morning train. 
* A parking space when I go to the shops. 
* The fishcakes we like in Waitrose that are always sold out. 
* Finishing a whole cup of tea while the baby sleeps. 
* Getting all those flying bugs off the houseplant in our front room without resorting to insect genocide. 
* The ignition actually switching the oven on so I don't have to lean into a gas filled oven with a match lit from the hob. 

As a life plan goes it's not being the first Asian newsreader (damn you Lisa Aziz) or writing a fabulously received novel, or creating the next Peppa Pig (watch this space). It is a list I can actually see myself getting to the bottom of without feeling like an utter failure though and that has to be worth something. 

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