I think everyone will agree with me when I say that as children, we all wanted to be everything. I remember that because of my favorite TV shows, I liked to play at being the main characters and wish I could be like them. For example, I remember that at one point I wanted to be a genie who granted wishes because I watched the show I Dream of Jeannie, and I even wanted to be Wonder Woman because I was a fan of Lynda Carter. Depending on what was on TV, I changed my mind every week. One day I wanted with all my heart to be an astronaut, the next week I dreamed of being a cowgirl, and for a while I even wanted to be a nun.

But there were three professions that remained constant over the years, and in one way or another, my parents encouraged me to study them. Two of them were inspired by my grandmother, and the other was inspired by my personality and vocation. Let's talk about those three professions that I would have liked to pursue.

When I was about 10 years old, my paternal grandmother fell ill and from that moment on, she needed us to look after her, so one day I said I wanted to be a doctor to take care of her and heal her. I took it so seriously that I was the one who found her the medicines she needed to take, and if she was in pain, I would massage her and even apply ointments and creams. My parents were very happy with my aspirations and even mentioned it to their friends and family at gatherings:

“Nancy wants to study medicine. It's always good to have a doctor in the family.”

I have to confess that the first time I had to deal with blood, I forgot about that dream, and my parents had to say goodbye to their dream of free medical care.

Due to my outgoing, forthright, and rebellious nature, my teachers encouraged me to study law, and that is how I developed a desire to study law, also because at that time I watched many television series where lawyers were the icing on the cake: they investigated, dressed well, fought and won cases, and earned a lot of money. Although these desires remained even when I was older, I had to give up on the idea because my parents informed me that the only public university that offered a law degree was six hours away from my city, and they would never send me to study alone in such a faraway place. I must say that at one point I thought about studying law at a private university and paying for it myself, but then I don't remember what happened, and in the end, I didn't do it.

The last career I wanted to pursue also came about thanks to my grandmother. I taught my grandmother how to write her name and count to 10. And even though I was just a child when that happened, I realized that I liked teaching, seeing how other people could learn new things. When I was little, I always played at being a teacher and my friends were my students. Even when I became a teenager, children would come to my house so I could explain things to them or help them with their homework. There was also the example of my teacher Onilde, my school teacher, who had taught me so much with a lot of love, but also with character. Just like with the characters on television, I wanted to be like her.

I remember when I went to enroll in college, my dad accompanied me and gave me the forms to fill out:
“Bionalysis?” asked Dad, but deep down it was an order. I hesitated, twirled the pen around, and then wrote, with shaky handwriting: “Bachelor's degree in education.”
“You want to be a teacher? You're crazy. Teachers starve to death,” Dad said, using that argument to make me give up.
“It doesn't matter,” I said confidently. And at that moment, I could see in my mind my grandmother Eugenia, who learned to write her name thanks to me, my teacher Onilde, and little Nancy, who played at teaching everyone, smiling proudly at me. In the end, I would be what I had dreamed of: a teacher.