Tick-tock Tick-tock goes the clock.
A young me hugging a stuffed animal in kindergarten class is asked-
“What do you wanna be when you grow up?”
I pause and answer-
“I wanna be a ballerina!” 

Tick-tock Tick-tock goes the clock.
I sit in my desk and stare at my teacher as she speaks about times tables,
She pauses and says- “Well kids this can be useful for the future, does any of you know what you wanna be when you grow up?”
My hand flies into the air instantly-
“I’m gonna be on American Idol.”
The teacher laughs, I stare back perplexed.

Tick-tock Tick-tock goes the clock.
I stand poised by my presentation on Women’s Rights; it’s the fifth grade final project no less, quite the serious ordeal.
I mean who wouldn’t be the face of delusional grandeur? 
After I’m done a parent of my peers wearing a suit, no tie, asks- 
“Young Lady, have you put any thought into what you want to do with your life?”
Other parents stare and laugh mildly, clearly thinking: ‘look at that guy grilling a primary school kid like that.’
I simply stare back and say without hesitation-
“I’m gonna be a lawyer, maybe Supreme Court, not sure yet.”
The parents smile, some laugh again, and some look at me with quiet respect, or maybe it was the look of nervousness when they realized their kid wants to be a professional underwater basket weaver.  

Tick-tock Tick-tock goes the clock.
I wait in line on the Lincoln MS patio to answer some things for yearbook.
Kids file in impatient, file out moments later to go play soccer or simply gossip cattily- either one is rampant at that age.
I make it to the front, and another student asks without looking up-
“Okay nationality, idol and where you see yourself in ten years.”
I pause, I don’t know where I’ll be ten years from now, at college I suppose, but fifteen to twenty years from now I intend to be a management consultant.
So I answer quickly; “USA, friends and family, in college.” 
The student jots this down, and promptly says: “Neeeext! Alex Rohana.”  

Tic-tock Tick-tock goes the clock.
Here I am: sixteen, a junior in high school, one thing is different though, for the first time I have no idea what I wanna do, who I wanna be and how I wanna get there.
I know what others expect of me, I know what my parents want for me, but what do I want for me?
Now that’s a question I can’t answer.  The future is limited and limitless, every Tick-tock exciting, every time a little more nerve-racking.