not a doctor, not a lawyer, not a teacher ...

Rhiannon asked, "What did you want to be when you grew up?"

Bonnie Wyora Johnson
circa 1972

Dear Rhiannon

When I was your age, I didn't know what I wanted to be.

I did know a few things I did NOT want to be.

I did not want to be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, or a nurse. It finally came to me. When I grew up, I wanted to be the prophet's wife*.

What that meant for me was that I wanted to be a woman who did the Lord's work, followed all his commandments, and was headed for the celestial kingdom.

I couldn't think of a position in the church that was equivalent to prophet that a woman could have, so I figured being the prophets right hand (wo)man would have to do.

I hoped it would allow me to have broad impact for good.

When I did grow up, I began working as a school speech-language pathologist (SLP) ...

Professor Johnson, Child Language Research Lab
circa 2002

and then I switched to being a student who does research and gets a stipend to pay for their schooling (doctoral student) ...

and then I became an employee who gets paid to do research on what ever she wants to learn about gets paid for it (post-doc) ...

then I became a teacher (assistant professor), ...

then I became a paediatric speech-language pathologist ...

and then I opened a private practice.

I like change. I like to learn

David Doral Camps-Johnson
May 2 2005

When I was your age, I also knew that when I grew up, I wanted to be a mother.

I would be doing what the Lord asked of woman - help bring spirits into this world.

I have always loved children. I think they are interesting and fun.

I thought I would to have twelve children because my mother always told people she wanted twelve but only got eight.

When I did grow up, I did get to be a mother.

I am David Doral Camps-Johnson's mother.

I was right about thinking I would like to be a mother.

David is interesting and fun.

Making neurodiversity visible ... image from WebMD
http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/ss/slideshow-adhd-in-adults

When I was your age, I never imagined I would grow up to be an adult with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

What I didn't know at the time was that I was a child with ADHD.

ADHD is a a brain difference that makes it easy for me to be spontaneous and flexible but hard for me to stay calm, organized and remember everything I need to do.

One of the signs of this that my teachers and doctors missed was that I had a really hard time focussing.

In class I would be scanning the room to see if there was anything interesting to look at or anyone to talk to.

On my report cards, my teachers consistently wrote, "Bonnie would do much better if she would spend more time doing her work and less time talking to her friends."

Bonnie Wyora Johnson
October 12, 2014

Luckily, my doctor figured out that I have ADHD this summer. I read about it in my spare time so I can learn strategies to make my life better (and the lives of those around me better). For example, I still like to talk to friends more than do my chores. That doesn't work out well for David when we are going for a walk, and I bump into someone, and he has to wait for me to (as he puts it) "blah, blah, blah."

Knowing that I have ADHD is helping me better understand myself and is changing my answer to your question,

"What did you want to be when you grew up?"

My new answer is ... I want to be someone who can provide for herself and her son, someone who takes care of her health, and someone who finds a chance to have a good belly laugh every day.

Now, over to you Rhiannon, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Signed,

an Aunt who still wants to have a broad impact for good, but gets distracted from her plans all the time.

* I did not think polygamy would be lived again in my lifetime, so I figured I would be the prophet's only wife, not one of many.  I never did have a testimony of a man having multiple wives being correct.