A common question to ask a child. Perhaps we as adults ask children this question in hopes they’ll encourage us to believe we too can be anything we want to be. We smile and giggle when we hear the seemingly impossible from them. Children can be anything they want to be when they grow up and we’re a little bit jealous of their ability to dream big. The thing we often fail to realize is that they can indeed be anything they want to be, and you can too. It doesn't matter how crazy it sounds, how impossible it seems, you get to be exactly who you want to be.
Children change their minds daily on this subject matter. One day your child wants to be a doctor and the next day they want to be superman. Guess what? You can change your mind too. Whenever you want, for whatever reason, there are no rules. You get to be whoever you want to be, and you get to change your mind whenever you want to.
When I was little, I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I probably gave a hundred different answers to that question over the years and yet I always knew exactly what I wanted to be. I never said it though. Even as a child with the ability to dream big and be anything I wanted to be, I was scared to tell people I wanted to be a firefighter just like my dad. It was my biggest, wildest dream as a kid. I was in awe watching him leave at the tone of a pager. Amazed by him dressed in full gear on fire safety day. Hypnotized by the sound of sirens and the sight of red and white flashing lights. I wanted to be a firefighter with every part of my being, and I knew it young. l’m talking six, seven, eight years old, I just always knew that was what I wanted to be.
Similarly to how we as adults limit our ability to dream, as a child I was constrained to a belief that becoming a firefighter was not a realistic career goal for a little girl. I was never told by anyone that I couldn’t be a firefighter and my parents would have supported my wildest dreams then just as they still do now. So, what made my six-year-old self believe that I couldn’t say that out loud? Perhaps it was that growing up, firefighters on tv and in all the movies were always men. The guys at the fire station were just that, all guys. With the exceptions of a couple female firefighters that I admired more than I could even begin to try to explain, society made me believe my biggest dream of becoming a firefighter was exactly that, a dream.
I was a freshman in high school when I was given the opportunity to attend a summer camp called Girls on Fire. A camp created by a woman named Marcy. She along with a team of women developed this camp to show young ladies that they too could be firefighters. It wasn’t until spending a week with women in the fire service along with girls my age also interested in the fire service that I found the ability to, without stuttering, speak the words “I want to be a firefighter”. I discovered this wasn’t just a dream anymore, it was also exactly who I could become.
If you would’ve told me as a little girl that when I turned sixteen, I would get a badge, a pager, and a set of turnout gear, I truly wouldn’t have believed you. I wouldn’t have believed at seventeen I would be learning how to cut apart mangled vehicles and rescue victims. I wouldn’t have believed at eighteen I would conquer my fear of heights and pass my firefighter 1 state practical exam. I wouldn’t have believed that at nineteen I would enter a burning building and almost not make it out alive. I definitely would have never believed you if you told me then, that at twenty years old I would become an officer, get the white dress shirt and be sitting at the head table with seven men that came before me. That twenty-one, twenty-two and twenty-three would be years filled with lessons from fighting fire after fire to reviving a dead man. Along with years of experiences both good and bad like my first fatal crash, and a neighboring fire chief telling me once “You drive truck better than most my men!” I wouldn’t have believed any of this as a little girl and I’m certain I wouldn’t believe what twenty-four is bringing me.
I know how blessed I am to have discovered as a young adult that I am capable of becoming the very woman I dream of becoming. That I can change my mind, set new goals and become a different version of that woman any time I want to. The next time you want to ask a child what they want to be one day, ask yourself instead. You already know that sweet soul is dreaming real big dreams. It’s your turn to dream big and know that you can accomplish anything and everything that you want to in your lifetime.
“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” Psalms 20:4
Be Brave -B