Monday, April 19, 2010

What Dreams are Made of

You know how it goes...every little boy and girl has dreams of what they want to be when they grow up.  They want to be a movie star, a firefighter, football hero, Princess, Ballarina, Policeman, President...you know, something BIG!  Who didn't play and imagine such things as a child? 

Well, apparently, me!

The other night I was chatting with my friend Chris on Facebook.  He was uncertain where he would be this summer break from school.  I told him to get a job here and get his tooshy HOME!  We then had the following conversation.

C: "I don't want to be there.  I want to go to Europe and teach English, or work on a sailing boat, or work at Disneyland."  (This kid is a DREAMER for sure)

Me: "Chris, you are the most random person I know." 

C: "Well, these are my unfulfilled dreams." "Don't you have any of those?"

Me: "Um, don't you know me be NOW?  I'm just not "crazy" like that."

C:  "Well no, you're just practical."

Me: "That's a nice way of putting it.  I mean really, do you want to know what I dreamed of being as a kid?" 

I dreamed of being a................................................wait for it................................................................



I said WAIT FOR IT...........................................................................................................................A







A SECRETARY.  And not just any secretary, a secretary named Janice.  Oh, and a Mom.  Those were my 2 dreams in life.

Chris nearly laughed himself into hysterics over that.  And really, I can see why.  I mean c'mon, WHO dreams of being a SECRETARY, AND having her name be Janice?  Seriously?  But I really did.  It's all i could think about.  I didn't often play house, or school...I played office.  I would take memos and type things and answer phones.

Perhaps it stems from the fact that my Dad owned his own business, and nothing was more exciting than going down to the shop and sitting at the front desk and maybe, just maybe getting to answer a phone call.  And then tattering away on the IBM selectric, pretending to be the fastest typist.  Truly, the stuff dreams were made of.

I didn't mess around in school either.  I took typing in 8th grade, and I rocked the manual typewriter (tragically, I am that old) with 60 words a minute.  But, that wasn't good enough, so I took it again in 9th grade, this time rockin the IBM electric typewriter.  Got up to 90+ words per minute.  Would have been best in the class, but damn that Helena Nielson and her piano playing fingers.  She JUST beat me out.  But people, I had a dream to fulfill........secretary (lest you forgot).

Wanna know what?  I DID become a secretary, receptionist, executive assitant, whatever.  And I was REALLY good at it.  Don't be a doubter...my data entry skillz were off the HOOK!  I could type 100+ words a minute, my mail opening ability..unparalleled.  Making copies, you better believe it!  But, my BEST ability...answering that phone.  I had MAD chops at that.  The people, they loved me!  I had customers that called sometimes, just to chat with me.  For all my grumpy looking face problems, I'm apparently a bubble fest on the phone.  Someday I'll write a whole post about Paul from a MAJOR customer (let's just say, you work out on all their eliptical machines at the gym) and the time he came to visit.  I loved being up front, greeting people, typing up invoices, filing, oh don't get me started..I totally dug THE FILING, the flirting (we had a couple of HOT artists at one point), I loved it all.  I worked in that capacity from the time I was 17 until I was 25ish (with brief stops in accounting and purchasing, NOT so much my favorite or forte).  At that point I transferred to ASU full time and couldn't work anymore.  I haven't set foot in an office ever since.  It seems like an entirely different lifetime ago, the typing, the filing, the office politicing, the attire. 

So yeah, I had a dream, and I totally fulfilled it.


Now what?


Good thing I've got these kids.



Toner cartridges and paper punches,

Allyson

18 comments:

Lana said...

HA! I can just picture your hair as you filed those precious documents! :) I, too, played office and wanted to buy office supplies and write memos. I truly love the mundane office tasks because I can keep things organized and on track. Anyway, I played office and library a lot. I just loved pretending to "check out books" for people. :)

jen said...

Can I just call you Janice from now on? I think I'll be laughing the rest of the day.
Janice . . . hehehehe

Rocketgirl said...

Janice?? I love it! I wanted to be a singer. Like Phil Collins, but a chick. And a playwright. Oh, the crappy musicals I wrote.. and sang into my tape recorder - I need to visit my parent's house and destroy the evidence. I bet I would have called you often for work related chit chat. But I do not have the ability to hold down a normal job, le sigh. My own stint as a secretary was ... less than stellar. They asked me to leave after 2 weeks :). You have my props, yo.

Jason and Kate said...

Janice!!! lololol. I almost peed my pants. Good one.

Stephanie @ dial m for minky said...

That's hysterial! One of my BFF's is Janice! I wanted to be a fashion buyer for a department store and drive a tractor to work. What? It could happen! Also whenever I visit your blog I want lemonade.

Small Burst said...

Can I just say you cracked me up with this, Janice! LOL. I always fell asleep in typing. Can you fathom someone at the keys sleeping! It would be me. Glad your dreams materialized.

Steph said...

K, you make me feel better about myself and my practicalness and lack of exciting dreams. When I was a kid I wanted to grow up and be a mom too. And have a garden, and can stuff, and be domestic and all that. And it's still what I want to do! I'm so not a dreamer. I'm just happy in my little homebody routine, and sometimes I wonder if there is something wrong with me! Nope, we're just livin' the dream. :)

The Brinkerhoff's said...

I really needed this today!!! Thanks!!

erin said...

janice. what a nice name.

Julie said...

...but damn that Helena Nielson and her piano playing fingers. She JUST beat me out!

Everytime! You always have a doozy that makes me laugh out loud!

Thanks for that!

p.s. I debated back and forth about inviting you to Amazing Race night---cuz I knew you guys would enjoy all my hard work. But alas, it was Book Club Members Only!

DianD said...

Janice, huh?!?!? How interesting! I like it well enough, but I just never even thought of that one... Now Veronica and Bridgette were two we kept trying for. However, (and THANK GOODNESS) we never got one that fit those names sent to our house. Don't know what I was thinking during those years. Well, I know one thing... You were a fine secretary and a MARVELOUS MOM!!! FYI, my only dream was to be a Mom when I grew up. Teaching was someone elses dream for me (My Mom's, cause that's what SHE wanted to be and never got the chance to). I enjoyed teaching, but I'm so glad I got to live my dream and be a MOM! The best job ever! Here's to SUCCESSFUL dreams! Love ya!

Mel said...

I love that! I totally played office all the time. I wanted to make lists and lists of random things. I'm glad that all your dreams have come true. You're a funny one Allyson Van Patten. I can totally see you as a Janice. hahaha

The Atomic Mom said...

If you must know, you're not the only one who had visions of being a secratary when she grew up. I just wanted a long necklace that attached to my glasses like my Aunt Alta who was my dad's secratary for years. It was made of pearls and oh-so-pretty!

The Coolest Allen Family said...

Look at you livin your dreams! My 8 year old dreams of being a "ice cream girl" or a "flower girl". My six year old used to say she wanted to be a garbage man. Dream big! That is what I always say.

Greg and Tammy said...

Shoot for the stars Janice! Shoot for the stars.

Andrea said...

Ok I remember the playing secretary thing, but I don't remember Janice. Where did that come from. We just need to get together again with Karen and Melia and just sit and remember and laugh.

larainydays said...

I had a dream of living in a trailer when I got married. I thought trailers were awesome.

JennyMac said...

LOVE it. Janice! :) And I LOVED office supplies when I was a kid. I dreamed of being an attorney (or a solid gold dancer) from the time I was five so dreams do come true.

And will you pretty please link your email to your blogger profile? I wanted to reply to one of your comments and got 'no reply at blogger' as your email when its not linked. :)