Who Are You…

Well isn’t that the age old question…Who are you…I guess I can start with labels and titles I am: a 48 year old woman, I am a wife, an ex-wife, a mom, a daughter, a daughter in law, an ex-daughter in law, a granddaughter, a sister, a sister in law, an ex-sister in law, an aunt, a cousin, a sister/mom, a friend, a best friend, a neighbor, an acquaintance, a doula, a midwife in training taking a very very long windy road to get there, a lactation consultant, a christian, a college drop out, an asian american (1/2 Filipina, 1/2 caucasian), a third culture kid, a sports mom, an FFA/4-H mom, a dog mom, a plant mom…the list goes on…don’t ask me what I do cause that’s an even longer list for another day!

There are so many labels for us and what we choose to be and want to be. It’s become nearly impossible to label and title ourselves with all of them. Remember those charts made of interlocking circles used for identifying similarities and differences in groups-Venn diagrams? I can’t even imagine what mine would look like, or that it would be legible. How do you even begin to use 2 dimensional charts to describe a 3 dimensional item?

We are multifaceted like cut and polished gems. Diamonds if you will…each facet reflecting a different part of ourselves, some are shinier than others. All containing some kind of imperfection. Every one unique in the way it is formed, cut, polished by nature and the people who work on them. Not a single diamond can say it was not worked on by nature, by an outside force or created by it’s will alone. Even after it is mined it is constantly changing and transforming by events and the people who “work” on it. And yet all starting as a simple carbon molecule. The same at its core.

Amazingly, even in all its beauty and how much its had to endure to become this precious gem there is someone who will scrutinize it, grade it, label it and note its cut, clarity, color and weight. And of course it”s imperfections.

But oh, those imperfections hidden within are what make it unique!

I have a beautiful diamond ring given to me by my husband. It is oh so sparkly and perfectly cut. But it has noted imperfections (inclusions is the technical term) and the setting has a ding in the metal. That may be my favorite part of it. It’s what makes it uniquely mine and what makes me treasure it even more.

Perspective change…with all things…look beyond the shiny surface, note the imperfections, realize that’s what makes it unique, treasure it more.

How does this loop back around to who I am? Isn’t it obvious?

I am a fricking diamond people!!!