The ‘real’ me

juliecache, identity

So here I am, cleaning my desk area, and I pause to think about the name tags I find and what they say about me. I think they say:

I wear many hats.

Some hats result in name tags, like the ones I found.They identify me as a wildlife volunteer, a honey producer, and a woman in agriculture.

Other hats don’t have name tags, like mother, geocacher, retreat leader, and teacher. And those hats cover smaller hats. I don’t volunteer for all wildlife. I monitor frogs and toads in a specific area three times a year. I am not just a honey producer. I tend a few hives of honey bees. There is a difference between creating a crop and caring for animals. Woman in ag? Well, my agriculture is urban ag, apiculture ag.

I like my hats. I didn’t choose all of them. I mean, I chose to be a mother, but I didn’t choose the gender of my children, and I didn’t choose for any of them to have special needs. My hats and name tags say just a tiny bit of who I am.

As I continue to clean, I will continue to consider the past year as it comes to an end, and as usual, set some goals for the next year.