Souper-Man

I gave a friend from Rapids a ride home from work today. She hadn't seen Carter in awhile so they had ample time to catch up.

He was telling her that he was looking forward to fifth grade because he'll get to dissect a deer heart and some fifth-graders will be dissecting frogs, too. "This is the year we start to do stuff!" he said.

She asked him if he knew what he wanted to be when he grows up. At first he said he wasn't sure. "I don't know if it's something my mom will like." So she replied, "That's alright. I'm sure your mom will be happy with whatever you decide as long as it makes you happy -- whether you're a doctor or a writer or a teacher."

Then Carter pipes up, "I think I want to make soup cans."

"You mean design them?" I asked, thinking cool, an engineer of some sort.

"No," he said. "I mean fill cans with soup. I'd get to press all those buttons. Wouldn't that be cool?"

Try as I might, I could not stop myself from bursting out laughing. Here's this creative, inventive kid and he would love to just press buttons all day. "That might seem fun at first," I said, "But imagine doing the exact same thing for 8 hours! It would probably get boring. Maybe you can get a part-time job in high school and test it out." (He also can ask Daddy about the joys of working at the belt buckle factory after college!)

No offense to assembly-line workers. We definitely need them. I just think it's not the job for ADD me. But now that I think about it. The way work has been going lately, I wouldn't mind a predictable 8 hours once in awhile! Maybe the soup man's onto something. We'll keep you posted.