From day one Gibson’s career path has been set.

Soon after our two-year-old was born, friends and family started gazing into his brown eyes like a pair of crystal balls, predicting his future.

Just as Gibson’s personality was emerging, the Rev. Sam Tomlinson made a bold prediction when observing our son.

Gibson would one day be governor of the great state of Mississippi, Sam pronounced with a wink and a chuckle.

Since then Sam inquires about our child by asking how the “gov’nor” is doing. He respectfully nods and gets out of the way when our child toddles down the church hallways.

You can imagine there is some light-hearted debate about this. Other friends and family have taken issue with Sam’s prediction. Instead of seeing the halls of executive branch, one holds out for a seat of the Supreme Court, while others see the church. With a great uncle who recently retired his bishop’s miter and another uncle who is just beginning to fit into a collar, many wonder if a future in the church is in the offing.

Gibson doesn’t pay much attention to such forecasts and that is not such a bad thing.

Knowing what it is like to have parents who were controlling when it came time for me to choose a career, I try to refrain from predicting my child’s future lest it be viewed with seriousness.

Besides, it’s fun watching my son discover his own likes and dislikes in the world.

Over the last year, Gibson has been attracted to all trucks, great and small. Eighteen wheelers, dump trucks, fire trucks and especially garbage trucks elicit whoops, hollers and excited finger pointing. Even a simple pick-up truck garners acknowledgment on walks through the neighborhood.

When construction crews spent nearly a week on our block pouring sidewalks for the Natchez Trails project, we spent mornings eating breakfast on our back porch watching concrete trucks, backhoes and a fleet of construction trucks. Evenings were spent walking around the block to inspect the work.

For that one week, Gibson delighted in the construction work so much that I joked that he would not end up being a priest or a governor, but will be a contractor instead.

It has been weeks since the concrete trucks moved on. Just as I concluded that I might have a little Bob the Builder in my future, Gibson has turned with renewed fervor toward a religious vocation.

I should have recognized his ecclesiastical leanings when he started carrying the Bible around the house. At the time, I assumed he liked to hear the crinkle of the pages as he flipped through the book.

Other signs though have started to make me wonder if seminary is in his future.

Just the other day, Gibson picked up a broom and raised it high in the air as he walked around the house humming to himself. In recent days, he has done the same thing with a vacuum cleaner wand and other stick-like objects.

When I realized his actions mimicked the processions he sees in church with the cross bearer leading the choir and priests, I wondered if Sam’s early call of the 2055 Mississippi governor’s race could be off.

Of course Gibson has not made that official announcement yet.

Ben Hillyer is the design editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3540 or by e-mail at ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com.