This week on Truthful Tuesday, hosted by Thoughts and Theories, asks:

When you were in grade school, what did you want to be when you grew up? Were you right, or did you end up doing something else?

Was I right? Not even close.

…and if by grade school, you mean before the 6th grade or middle school, those days were spent doing the piles upon piles of homework while attending classes from 7 in the morning until 5 at night, I didn’t have the time nor the luxury to ponder upon what I want to be when I grown up. I now know it’s probably a ploy to numb children’s brain so they don’t have a shred of imagination.

To tell the truth, I have never thought of what I want to really be until high school. Sure, there were a few daydreams here and there about wanting to be an astronaut and a successful business woman wearing couture to work and having a large office in a skyscraper but there was no specifics.

Unlike middle school, high school was a rush-through trip for me. Mom had this plan of having me graduate high school in 2 years along with an associate degree. I spent Freshman year (9th grade) taking a full load of classes in high school during the day and college classes at night. My brain and body were cut out for this. I was so physically and mentally tired by the time my parents suddenly decided to move from California to Texas that I didn’t even feel sad about leaving the friends I have made.

By the time my mom and I moved to Utah, I was starting my junior year (11th grade) but I had completed most of my junior year classes during the summer because mom still wanted me out of high school as soon as possible. I don’t know why.

By the time senior year rolled around, the only required class I had left was Calculus. I was only in school for half days every other day by then. High school run in a block schedule so most classes (except Calculus) meet every other day. So I sought out elective classes like Graphic arts and that was the first time I saw myself as a graphic artist.

Unfortunately, trade school wasn’t mom-approved and her friend pushed me toward civil engineering saying it’s a “hot” major. I still hate them – mom and friend – for making me choose this major because they didn’t listen to what I have to say nor did they take into account the physical demand of the job. I was not at all prepared for this and I more or less wasted 5 years on something that I couldn’t get a job because of all the interviews I went to, the interviewer took one look at me and thought I’d be incapable.

Despite of being her fault for thrusting me into doing something I don’t want to do, mom blamed me for not being able to get a job in civil engineering as by the time I graduated, a lot of engineering positions have moved overseas to the Middle East, which wasn’t a mom-approved place.

On the drive to my first college graduation, mom started planning for the next leg of my journey in life – another college degree. Accounting was the major she had in mind and before I could argue further (because what’s the use?), accounting it was. This took me 2 years to complete, after getting 50% of my classes waived.

It wasn’t until 2015 when I visited the Deloitte and Touche (a big accounting firm) office in Chicago that I seriously contemplated my future as an accountant. I actually saw myself moving to a big city and working for large accounting firms. I saw myself living alone in an apartment and enjoying it. “I can get used to this.” I told myself.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans – plans that involved my mom being glued to my side for probably until one of our demise. Though the job I have now isn’t even remotely what I had in mind, it’s still stable income and it’s all I can live with for now.