"What Do You Do?"

One of the first questions many “grownups” ask other “grown ups” upon meeting is “What do you do?” Me?  I teach. I never thought about being a teacher as a kid. I remember playing school, probably not because I was “in love“ with it, but because I had stuff for it. Stuff like paper and pencils and crayons. I probably liked playing House better. I seemed to be obsessed with cleaning grease off of the walls in the kitchen of my make-believe house. I’m not sure why. My mom never fried things, we didn’t own a fryer, hence, I am still a bit puzzled as to the grease obsession, but it was there. Ask my friend, Lisa. She played it with me. Our moms wouldn’t know about this game, because while we were playing House in the basement, they were upstairs doing “Mom” things – like talking about Elvis Presley.

I wasn’t super obsessed with what I “wanted to be” when I grew up, either. I had the best childhood, seriously. I’ve alluded to this before, and I will go into detail later, but many will be jealous (or immediately taken back to theirs when I describe mine). Even if yours was great, mine was probably just a little bit better. Kind of a fact. I had the mom that made the amazing popsicles. No, not “kool aid” or “fruit juice” lame, popsicles. Jell-O and kool aid and magic. And…. (Wait for it)… she even made them three different colors. I kid you not. Yes, she poured in the green, let them set for the EXACT amount time they needed (I don’t know what that time as, I was the kid, she was the mom, I didn’t hang around the kitchen and this is not a recipe blog), poured in the orange, and topped it off with red. Which meant that that was the last part of the Popsicle you ate, and of course, the best. And she made 60 at a time. I know, you think I am exaggerating, but please… I hate exaggeration. Not a fan. Don’t do it. My mom was that kind of mom. Because, you see, there were a million kids in our neighborhood. Okay, not a million. 12? 15? Let’s see, Beth, Bret, Lisa, Daniel, Todd, Heather, Gayle, Tammy, Timmy, Nate, Ginny, Brian, Kevin, Marlene… and then the ones older than us who we didn’t play with. And me and my brother, Jimmy. See? 12-15. And we were within 4 years of each other, and every day in the summer, someone was playing with someone. And at some point, we needed popsicles. Oh yes… NEEDED popsicles.

So we made the afternoon stop at our house, my mom passed out popsicles, and we ate them outside, under the tree between our yard and the Matthys’. And she would collect the Popsicle “sticks” (they weren’t throw away ones – these were Tupperware), and did NOT let us in the house, and we were off.

I’d like to point out one drawback to being a child of the Seventies – no one ever had to go to the bathroom during the day. This means we were all probably living a life of dehydration… yet, all of those people I mentioned who were my friends – they’re still alive. Hmmm…. Still alive. Intriguing.

I never stopped playing the piano, and in the Fourth Grade I took up the flute in Band. I was also in Choir, but usually ended up playing the piano – which was fine, but wasn’t what I was really wanting to do. I wanted to sing. That’s why I was in Choir. The drawback to always being the “Piano Player” for Choir is that I developed a complex about my singing. I did have a director once tell me that I should just stick with playing the piano, and although he was trying to compliment my piano playing (in his very awkward 1980’s man way), I (in my perfectionist, performance-oriented, people-pleasing way) took it to mean I didn’t have a good singing voice. Which is why, even today, I don’t mind singing for my choirs to demonstrate how they should sing something, but I won’t volunteer to sing a solo.

Building with my brother, James, and my cousin, Zahra. The Engineering gene...?

Anyhow – I didn’t want to have a “career” in Music. Duh – that’s so easy. Anyone can do music. I was also SMART (gifted and talented, remember?), so when I was in the 8^th grade and I was told I should go to this Engineering Camp at IBM because I was so smart in Math and Science (WAIT!! Isn’t that a new thing? Trying to get girls into Engineering?!) I was all OVER that!

I liked the Camp, I guess. I mostly liked the thought that I was smart enough to have a job that paid good money. I started my College Career in Engineering. I wasn’t really sure what kind to study – I liked the ide of designing bridges (Civil Engineering), b didn’t seem a bit concerned about me deciding.

In Calculus with Tammy. We were standing under the cooler - we lived in Arizona - it was HOT there!

ut the University I went to didn’t have that kind of Engineering, and I don’t know if I appeared flaky or indecisive or what, but the professor I met with

Now, I had a plan to get out of College in three years. To this end, I took English at the Community College in Sierra Vista, and History and a Bible Course via Correspondence. And I had 18 ½ credit hours a semester. I was struggling. But I was smart enough – that’s what the tests said. So I studied like a crazy person, and worked 40 hours per week. Not my parent’s idea – mine. I studied AT work, so that was a nice side benefit. I worked at a Tanning Salon (yeah, I did). Free tanning was a side benefit (yeah, it was). I was ridiculously tan – but not orange. I’m Middle Eastern, we don’t get orange. And it was 1986 so who really knew about dangers from the sun?

I struggled through my first year, and lost my academic scholarship. In October of my sophomore year, the pastor from my church in Sierra Vista was in town. He was getting his Masters’ Degree from the same University. His children were (and still are) dear friends of mine. He asked me how my studying was going, and I was positive in an evasive sort of way.

“Yeah. Going well. A LOT of studying. But, it’s fine. It will BE fine.”

Pastor Tumpkin: “Are you sure you’re supposed to be studying Engineering?”

Me: “Oh yeah. Sure. It’s the right course for me. I’m really good at Math and Science.”

Pastor Tumpkin: “How about if we pray about it together?”

Me, in a death grip of fear: “Oh no. That’s ok. I’m fine.”

Because…. When Pastor Tumpkin prayed, God spoke. And I did not WANT to change majors. And I had been struggling for about six months with whether this was really what I was supposed to be studying or not. But… 1 ½ years of Engineering equals a LOT of Math and Science credits. Do the math. Well, never mind, you might not be very good at math, and I’m the one who did well on the math and science tests so I’ll break it down for you… 12 credits of Math, 24 credits of Science, and some Engineering credits, and I don’t even know their category. What does a person in a “regular, non Engineering major” need in the way of Math and Science credits? Probably about 7.

But, I really kind of had to acquiesce because, duh, he’s my pastor. So he prayed, and when he finished I said, “Maybe I should go into Nursing.” – (I’m thinking Science credits…)

He graciously said, “We’ll just see what the Lord shows you.”

As I was driving back to campus I already knew what I needed to do. I needed to change to Music.

I called my parents. They both got on the phone (2 extensions) and I told them what I was thinking. Their reactions were completely the opposite of what I thought they would be.

Mom (the ever practical, piano teacher): “ Music? Are you sure? Can you support yourself with that?”

Dad (teacher): “That’s great, Honey. I think you’ll really like it.”

Needless to say, I ended up being in college for five years. So much for that three-year plan. And even thought I had taken and PASSED Chemistry, Calc based Physics an Organic Chemistry, I still had to take “ The Science and Sound of Music” as my Science class. I am not kidding.

Of course, just because I had decided Music was where I was supposed to be didn’t “get me in” to the School of Music. I had no idea you had to “get in” to the School of Music. The piano teachers were not impressed that I had not had “formal training.” I distinctly remember one of them saying, “ Well, I guess you could always teach private piano lessons.” Thank you, Mrs. Kirk…

But, I DID get in, and it is where I met Karen, who has been one of my closest friends since then. Oh the shenanigans.