Other

I dug out my School Days book from the basement. It's a spiral book with pocket pages for each year of school, kindergarten through 12th grade. School work and other mementos go in the pockets, and each page's front side lists school, teacher, age/height/weight, school picture, and notes.

On the back side is a place for new friends, activities, achievements and awards in elementary school, and class schedule in junior high and high school.

Also on the back--during the elementary years--is a section called "When I Grow Up I Want To Be--" There's one side for boys, and one side for girls.

The boy checkbox options are Fireman, Policeman, Cowboy, Astronaut, Soldier, Baseball Player and Other.

The girl options are Mother, Nurse, School Teacher, Airline Hostess, Model, Secretary, and Other.

I started school in 1975. It's amazing to think that at the time I was expected to be thinking of what I wanted to grow up to be, my choices were still considered to be so narrow.

(In fact, these are the exact occupations my mother remembers being the only ones available when she was graduating from high school in 1960. She would begin her adult life checking off two of the boxes, Secretary and Mother.)

And what of the boys? Being a mother is an option for the girls, but boys apparently would never choose to be a father. Not as an occupation, anyway. I suppose, also, that in the realm of realistic job options, "cowboy" is no less likely than "model."

Did my mom even read me these checkbox choices? Or did she just ask me what I wanted?

Because in every grade, first through sixth, I checked "Other" and wrote "Author."