Adding To The Bookends

Of the questions I was asked when I was young, the one I recall giving me the most difficulty was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Despite my own discomfort, I've probably repeated the mistake and asked a few young folks the same thing. When you were young, how prepared were you to answer this? How many people have you met in your life who later "became" what they said they wanted to be?

During the lead up to my retirement celebration in March 2010 and since, the most common question I've been asked has been some variation on "What will you do/are you doing with your time?" For a number of reasons, I've had less trouble here. I've begun thinking of the questions from these first two paragraphs like bookends of a work life.

For me it was 40+ years between these bookends. And that has me reflecting on questions to begin asking others in between, questions I would have welcomed, questions asked much less frequently.  Like..."What kind of work are you going to/might you do next?" Or, "What are you passionate about ? How can you turn that passion into an alternative career?"  Your ideas?