When I Grow Up

"You know what I want to be when I grow up?" My youngest asked me while riding in the minivan.

"No I don't, " I responded looking at him in the rearview mirror. " What is it?"

"I think it would be great to be, I don't know what you call it but someone who works where the trash is..." he said. I could see him looking at the bottom of a plastic water bottle searching for the recycling triangle.

"Oh? Really?" I paused at this revelation that my youngest wants to work as a garbage man. "I think that's called a 'Landfill Manager' " At least I could dress it up with my words, I thought. "Why do you want to work with trash?"

"Oh I think it would be cool because then you could see what people had for dinner or lunch and see what they do in their lives from their trash."

'How wise!' I thought and smiled. He wasn't interested in being a garbage man... he wants to be a sociologist studying people's garbage to gain understanding about our society.

And I was afraid he was going to tell me that this way he could find ALL the balloons in the world.