If I could...

Hurrah for being included! Thanks, Nancy! :)

Choose five of the starters below, and tag three more people:

If I could be a scientist...If I could be a farmer...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...If I could be a chef...If I could be an architect...If I could be a linguist...If I could be a psychologist...If I could be a librarian...If I could be an athlete...If I could be a lawyer...If I could be an inn-keeper...If I could be a professor...If I could be a writer...If I could be a llama-rider...If I could be a bonnie pirate...If I could be an astronaut...If I could be a world famous blogger...If I could be a justice on any one court in the world...If I could be married to any current famous political figure...

If I could be an athlete, I would be a gymnast. I would have already won the Olympics! And I would be touring with all those famous gymnasts. Oh, how cool that would be.

If I could be an inn-keeper, I would build a series of beautiful cottages in a forest on a lake. They would have huge, pillow-top beds with bunches of fluffy pillows. There would be a cozy fireplace and soft armchairs sitting nearby. There would be bay windows with window seats, to soak in the sunrise or sunset (whichever way the thing faced). The floors would be dark stained knotted pine, with wooden, twig-made furniture, and cedar ceilings. There would be bright and colorful Impressionist paintings on the walls in one, another would have just sunrise and sunset art (photos and paintings), yet another would have beautiful travel photos, one could be a mountain motif.

If I could be a librarian, I would make a lot of money, so that I could spend my days around books. I would always be reading, helping kids get excited about reading, and have lots of programs to bring people into the library. I would make sure that my library, wherever it was, would be light and airy and welcoming, but also cozy. Lots of soft chairs and sofas to sit and just be there, with the books.

If I could be a painter, I would find places to just sit. I would start at my dad's mountain house. The beauty there is astounding: forests, valleys, and distant mountains and foothills. I would paint the sunrise every morning for a month. I would walk into the forest behind the house and paint the stream gently swooshing through the endless green underbrush. I would also have to find a square to sit at in places like Rome, Paris, London, and other great cities. I would paint the sights, the light, perhaps the people. I would be able to capture a moment with my tools, whatever they may be.

Nothing else on that list really strikes at my fancy, so I'm going to make one up.

Back in the day, a lot of rich kids from the provinces or wherever would come to Paris for their 'sentimental education.' Or the young Parisian rich people would just hang about. There's a very specific French verb, flaner, which means to stroll or saunter aimlessly, to lounge around, because you can, because you have the means to not have to do anything else. This term can be made into nouns: flaneur and flaneuse, a man or woman who does this; and flanerie, the act of being a flaneur.

So, If I could do anything at all, I would be a flaneuse. I would just wander different parts of the world. I would have a camera and be a talented, thought-provoking photographer. I would carry a journal in which I recorded my deep thoughts and insightful noticings of the world around me. I would casually chat up handsome strangers and intriguing locals. I would lend a hand to hapless but adorable tourists. In short, I would seek happiness.

Tag, you're it! Mz Smlph, Jubilee, and Rae.