One warm summer evening, a little girl named Kaley and her mother sat outside on the front porch steps looking up at the night sky.

"When I grow up, I want to be a star!" exclaimed Kaley. "A star is so bright in the night sky, and everyone will want to gaze up at me."

"Oh, no," said Kaley's mother, "You can be anything you want to be when you grow up, but you can not be a star."

"Then I will be the moon," said Kaley abruptly. "The moon is also very bright in the night sky. It grows like a giant light bulb. Yes, I think I'll be the moon."

"Oh, no," said the mother, "You can be anything you want to be when you grow up, but you can not be the moon."

Kaley sat silently on the cool cement steps, thinking for a while. The crickets chirped softly in the tall grass of the front lawn.

Gondobintoro, page 2

Grow Up

"I know!" exclaimed Kaley. "I will be a cricket, so I can jump way up and touch the stars and moon!"

"Oh, Kaley," said the mother smiling, "The moon and stars are much too high for a cricket to jump there. Besides, you can not grow up to be a cricket anyway."

"Then I'll be a firefly!" exclaimed Kaley pointing to the dancing light in the distance. "Surly a firefly can reach the moon and stars."

"Oh, no," explained the mother. "The moon and stars are much too far away, too far for even a firefly to fly there. Besides, you can not grow up to be a firefly anyway."

"Mommy," said Kaley frustrated. "You said when I grow up I can be anything I want to be. But I can not be a star, I can not be the moon, I can not be a cricket, and I can not be a firefly."

"That's right," explained the mother. "You were born a little girl. You can only grow up to be a big girl, like Mommy, but you can be any kind of big girl you want to be."

"Well," said Kaley. "I want to be the kind of big girl that can go to the moon and stars. I want to jump higher than a cricket and fly farther than a firefly. I want to reach out and touch the moon and kiss the stars."

"Well," said the mother, "Then you want to be an astronaut."

"An astronaut?" asked Kaley.

"Yes," said the mother. "An astronaut can fly to the moon and stars in a big spaceship."

"Then that is what I'll be, an astronaut," said Kaley, and she gazed up at the night sky and dreamed of one day becoming an astronaut when she grew up.

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