Unintended Consequences

When I was very young, maybe five years old, my mother asked me what I wanted to be.

This was in the living room of the house on Satsup Street (still the setting for occasional dreams, since I spent so many of my formative years there). A number a people were around and I was vaguely aware of an older brother answering the same question.

I think I gave the same answer he did, though I don't remember what that was. Fireman, perhaps. I had never thought about it before.

My mother said, "Wouldn't you like to be a pastor?"

Being an agreeable child, I said yes.

She then told everyone what I had said, and I knew right away that I would never be a pastor.

I still find it funny how that worked. I was an agreeable child, as I said, and eager to please, but I felt tricked. This was so clearly what she wanted; it had nothing to do with me.

I did end up being a serious student of religion in college, but I'd be damned if I was going to be a professional.