Red light ahead

I was always annoyed when adults would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, so I never ask kids that. But when you are the parent to an adorable 5 year old and the world is her oyster, your crazy mom mind sometimes wonders what she will end up doing. She is so athletic, sometimes I think she will be in the Olympics or a ballet dancer. She is so creative about things and likes to sings and make up her own songs, so maybe a lyricist or a performer of some sort. Or just an artist. We were at the mfah the other day and she commented that when we got home she was going to draw something so they could "have one of mine." She also has such a mechanical mind she likes to "play Legos" and rinky tinks(what we call tinker toys.) So maybe and engineer or architect. She likes to build forts and the other day tied her scooter onto her bike and then onto her ez roller and turned the entire contraption into Santa's sleigh with reindeer--she always manages to find a new way to play with a toy, something its creator would never have imagined , so maybe an inventor. She is such a nature girl and always has been, even as a baby if she was fussy we just took her outside and she would stop crying, so maybe a park ranger or a biologist. Or maybe something with animals. She was actually teaching our old dog a new trick the other day--how to climb the stairs, which Bella cannot do because she is stupid, but she tries to because Annabelle was coaxing her with goldfish and she loves Annabelle and loves goldfish. And let's not forget when she was three and had an obsession with all things dentistry.

But it was the other day that she said something that made me think in a totally new direction for her career choice, something I never would have considered for her in a million years. We play this game where we try to get an "express" while we are driving, which is to say no red lights. We really like to play it as we are heading down shepherd, because there are a million lights and it is a challenge. We have made a few rules, If the light is red and you slow down but don't have to stop before it turns green, it counts as green. Turning right on red is the same as a green light. Whatever. But then I hear this one:"mom, what if you are almost at a red light, and are slowing down and then it turns green but the person at the front of the line is texting and not paying attention (where would she get that idea?) and they kind of waste the light and then you have to stop? It's not really your fault but you have stopped. What does that count as?"

"Hmmm. That is a slippery slope, my lambkin a slippery slope..."