This is All Cara's Fault

My great friend Cara* (she named her daughter after me), at To Whom It May Concern, tagged me recently to complete five of the following sentences, then pass them on to three more people.

"It's part of a new me-me that is traveling through the blogosphere. The idea is: if you're tagged, you need to choose five occupations (or more if you like) from the list below and then finish the sentence for each one you've chosen.

"You then tag three more people and politely ask them to do the same. You can add more occupations to the list when you pass it on, but kindly select your three from the list provided by the person who tagged you. You're also asked to track back to the blogger who tagged you if you know how."

Here's the list:

If I could be a scientist…
If I could be a farmer…Hello! I live in Pancakes Flats, Kansas! Ask me something else.
If I could be a musician…
If I could be a doctor…
If I could be a painter…
If I could be a gardener…
If I could be a missionary… I will tell people about Jesus. Definitely in China, after I finish a mission in Mexico, just before I start a couple in Liberia and Sierra Leone. In the meantime, there are people where I work…and these nearby neighbors …and what do you suppose it would take to open a mission in Hollywood?…there’s a children’s ranch in Arizona that really needs some help (I like kids)…

Historical footnote: I’ll bet you didn’t know that the AME denomination is the first American denomination to send missionaries to foreign countries. Ta-dah!

If I could be a chef…
If I could be an architect…I would design and build dollhouses for my granddaughters.
If I could be a linguist…
If I could be a psychologist…
If I could be a librarian…
When I become an athlete…I will be on the same professional baseball team as my youngest grandson Ben. Ah…now I have a reason to live 30 more years.
If I could be a lawyer…
If I could be an innkeeper…
If I could be a professor…
If I could be a writer…God wrote the Number One best-seller of all time, and I am created in His image. My DNA has ‘writer’ stamped all over it. It don’t get any better than that. I am a blessed man. You prob’ly don’t unnerstand. Or you might.
If I could be a llama-rider…
If I could be a bonnie pirate…
If I could be a service member…
If I could be a photographer…
If I could be a philanthropist…
If I could be a rap artist…
If I could be a child actor…
If I could be a secret agent…
If I could be a comedian/comedienne…
If I could be a priest...
If I could be a radio announcer...
If I could be a phlebotomist...
If I could be a movie producer...
If I could be the CEO of Microsoft...

*Personal note to Cara: Forgive me, Cara, but I think everyone in my short list of Hip Joints has already been tagged. But, hey, everybody! Now's your chance. If you ever wanted to be tagged, be the first on your block to tag yourself!

However, Cara, maybe I can make you feel better. Please read five things that make me proud of me.

1. Mickey Mantle and I were good friends when we both lived in Dallas.
2. I’ve written a play that has been produced twice. Yes, in public.
3. I wrote a better play that hasn’t been produced at all.
4. My immediate family includes Italian, Anglo, Chinese, Black, Japanese and Mexican.
5. I have served the following people more than once: Ross Perot, Van Cliburn, Ken Follett, Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Mary Kay Ash**, Lloyd Ruby, Dan Reeves, Tom Landry**, Mickey Mantle** (and his family), Mark Thatcher, Sen. John Tower**, Brooks Robinson, Zig Ziglar, Bob Barker, Bob Eubanks, my own children and several other well known personalities & professional athletes.

Huh? Oh, he’s Margaret Thatcher’s son.

** Still deceased