''Maeve got a doctor kit yesterday, complete with stethoscope, syringe, blood pressure cuff, and the whole works. She gave us all some very thorough checkups yesterday, and pronounced us helfy. She was very professional, running around with her step-scope around her neck, and I'm pretty sure her handwriting is at the same level as most doctors already. Now if we could convince her that her heartbeat is in her chest and not her legs, we'd be in good shape.
Seeing my girl all dolled up like a doctor yesterday, I got to thinking about what she could be when she grows up, just for a split second. Do astronaut ballerinas have time to practice medicine? But I shook off the thought like you would a fly on your arm. I'm not interested in what Maeve 'is' when she grows up, as long as she is Maeve, truly herself, and happy.
Maeve really can, at this point, be anything she wants. She's my astronaut ballerina doctor right now, in a few weeks she might be a paleontologist princess with a minor in fireman studies. She is herself, launching herself in all directions just to see how it feels. She does not inhabit the boring adult world of paychecks and mortgages, nor should she have to for many years to come.
So do me a favor. If you know Maeve personally, don't ask her, and I mean really don't even ask her until high school, at least, what she wants to be when she grows up. Because the what doesn't matter, not to me, and I really don't want it to matter to her. What matters is the who. Keep asking her what she likes, who she wants to be like, what she's interested in. Those will form the who that she becomes, which is still anything she wants.
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