Not every job is glamorous, but Every job is important

Not every job is glamorous, but every job is important.

I was struck by that darn pressing “gotta do it now” inspiration yesterday morning. My lovely daughter has been making the most amazing LEGO machines. I asked her if she was planning to be an engineer, and she shrugged at me. She’s 10. She is more into playing right now that worrying about what her future may bring. I’m down with that, but on the other hand, I worry about what my kids various futures may bring every day. What parent doesn’t? 

Between normal needs, special needs, plain old slothfulness, boredom, not being interested in things, having teachers that manage to make the carnage of history boring… It isn’t surprising it’s hard to pick a path! My 15 year old has no idea of what he wants to do. A few months ago he was looking into some sort of engineering as well, but it’s such a broad path. It was overwhelming simply trying to scale it down to a few options. Some days I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up either! I just try to adult the best I can. 

Since engineering was on the plate, I made a Future Engineer shirt. And then I made half a dozen more. And then I had around forty designs, with a list of additional shirts to make when I sit down again. 

I was going to go full on blue collar. I love Mike Rowe. I think his Dirty Jobs series highlighted the amazing, nasty, dirty, gross jobs that make America run and that no one seems to want to do. Including me, since they all seem to involve crawling into a small hole with a stick. I’m ok with the stick, not so much with the hole. But having a shirt that says Future Custodian might not be the bar you want to set for your child. I think Future Doctor might be too demanding in some cases. If everyone is a doctor, who gets to be the Future Mechanic who makes sure the doctor’s car works so s/he can get to work every day? Not every job is glamorous, but every job is important. I can’t say it or stress it enough!

So I added in some white collar jobs. Then I added in some cultural fun, because I’d have loved a Future Punk shirt for my little punky kids. Or a Future Activist and Future Protester for my future socially conscious teens. 

I was going to boycott Future Artist, because I am sort of anti-any art degree right now. We’re currently a house full of starving artists who should know better by now, there is precedent for my irrational thoughts. But I have a tiny current dancer who I strongly suspect will be a tiny professional Future Dancer. I can’t dash her dreams, I can only encourage her to have a fall back. Writing is fine, as a side-job, to do in your spare time, but most people won’t be a Stephen King (whom I dislike anyway) or a James Patterson (who doesn’t write his own work anymore from what I gather, but has dozens of “written with” novels out). My own husband is a writer, and has quite a few novels and anthologies out, but it’s hardly letting us live big. It’s a hobby.

So Future This or Future That, you never know what the future will bring. I do know that it can now bring you a custom printed shirt pretty quickly. Can’t find the Future you’re looking for? Shoot me an email and I’ll get it up ASAP. Every Job Is Important.