What did you want to be when you grew up?

This is the time of year that the maroony-pink hydrangea turns an interesting purply-browny-greeny colour. The pears and plums have all been gathered in, and now I'm waiting for the cranberries to ripen so I can dry them and add them to muesli during the winter.

What did you want to be when you grew up? This is one of those dinner-party questions that can be very interesting and revealing. I wanted to be an archaeologist. There was a series in a children's magazine that I used to read, about the great archaeological finds: the ten cities of Troy, Mycenae, the Sutton Hoo hoard and of course, Howard Carter and the burial treasure of Tutankhamun. However, I revised my plans when I realised that it was unlikely I would discover any such thing in New Zealand. I would spend my professional life excavating pre-Maori shell middens and the leavings of Victorian privies. Not romantic at all. I asked two colleagues at work yesterday. One had wanted to be a fireman for a while, but then decided she would rather be an orphan! A common feeling, that we have been born to the wrong family ("These people just can't be related to me"). Another colleague wanted to be a policewoman all through her high school years, until her parents invited a real policewoman for a visit to talk to her. When she realised how horrible being a policewoman would be (telling parents about children's deaths, dealing with drunk and violent people) she realised it was not for her.
  What did you want to be when you grew up? And how/when did you become disillusioned, if disillusioned you were?