What CAN'T that girl do?

Today's randomness?  I truly have a lot of time to think in my (short) car ride to work.  Maybe I think more than the "normal" person?  Maybe I think faster?  I'm not trying to get in a debate about it, I just have a fairly short drive to work, usually about twenty minutes, and I have a whole slew of thoughts rambling around in that crazy head of mine!
Anyway, back to the randomness...  Last night was Halloween.  We went to my brother's to trick-or-treat with the kids.  My nephew got a drum set last year for Christmas and although he has an amazing amount of toys, my Little decided the drums were the toy she wanted to play with.  Well, what kid wouldn't, right?  My mom had taken Little to a friends house once and they had drums.  Mom was pretty amazed that Little picked the sticks right up and went to town on those drums.  Needless to say, we were a little less surprised to see her go straight for the sticks and start tapping to her hearts content.  Not crazy pounding either!  I mean, she's one-and-a-half, she doesn't exactly have a rhythm down, but she tapped away at those drums like she knew what she was doing!  So that got me thinking...  I have a friend that plays the drums...  I wonder if he would give lessons when Little is just a bit older, and how much he would charge?  That's when the crazy thoughts started zooming in!  We want to get Little started in dance classes after she turns two.  I am not the crazy mom you see on Toddlers And Tiaras...  I just watch Little dance all around the house every time music is going and I want to encourage that.  I have a friend (not the drum player) that teaches locally.  I don't think he teaches the class we would have to put Little in at first, but I am definitely looking at the studio he teaches at above the others because she may have the opportunity to take a class with Instructor Chuck some day!
So there I am thinking about Little being a drumming dancer and thinking "She'll be able to do anything!"  Not because I want to get her in two types of lessons, but because I have no desire to push her towards any type of career.  I don't care if she's a doctor or a lawyer, a dancer or a drummer, she could be just like Barbie!  Yes, that is where my thought process really went...
I started thinking about Barbie...  And my mom...  Barbie has had over ninety careers in her "lifetime".  I would like to point this out to all the people that think Barbie is a "bad" influence.  Sure, the lady has an unattainable figure, SHE'S A DOLL!  But if you are more concerned about making it about her figure than the achievements Barbie has strived for, I think you are missing the point.  Barbie is a doll that can do it all!  She should still be looked at as the inspiration she started out as, the doll that can encourage girls to live out their highest potential!  And please don't leave me comments about Barbie, I have a rather large collection of the doll and it has nothing to do with careers.  I think they are pretty.
So what does that have to do with my mom?  Well, let's look at the role of a mom in general...  A mom may be unlicensed in many of the following areas but is a practicing:  nurse, chauffeur, chef, care-giver/baby sitter, counselor, law maker/enforcer, educator, body guard and in some cases punching bag.  I know I'm forgetting some things, so feel free to mentally elaborate!  Then there's my mom...  Although nontraditional in many ways my mom became an inspiration to me a bit later than she probably should have.  We all have issues with the way we were raised, with the way we feel we were treated.  All that aside, my mom was a teenager when she became a mom.  The second-from-the-youngest of six kids, she graduated High School and has taken some college courses, but she has had some careers!  From the basics like accounting and a waitress, she drove a school bus when I was in Elementary School, she drove a bus for fire fighters when I was in High School and was a flight attendant in the late 90's.  She has taken courses in Hotel Management, worked as an apartment manager and a massage therapist.  Again, I might be missing a few, but when you think about it, she could give Barbie a run for her money!  The fact is, if we want to do something and are willing to put in the training, any one of us can do anything we want to do!  Okay, so I don't know if any amount of training can make a person not tone-def but with a little hard work and persistence, we can be what we want to be.
That, my friends, is the kind of parent I want to be.  The kind that encourages my daughter to be whatever she wants to be.  All I can ask is that she be true to herself and do things that make her happy.