Versions of Me

I've been through more iterations of myself than I can count.

The two that I can most clearly remember from childhood are:  the  fat kid,  the preacher's kid.   I internalized both of those rather deeply, the first in particular, which took many many years to transform into something more positive.

 Being the "preacher's kid" in the deep south of the fifties and sixties also carried quite a bit of baggage, which also took time to sort through.   That one was largely positive, but I wanted to be my own self, and not known by my father's position.

 It certainly is most ironic that, in the end,  by choice, I took my father's position as my own primary identity.

There are many names associated with that.  Minister, ordained elder, clergy, clergywoman, pastor, parson, priest, reverend.  I think I more often have referred to myself as preacher, probably because that was the most passionate part for me.

Then over time and the decades,  I incarnated into many forms.  Southerner.  Yankee.  For a while I was a teacher.  Professional.  Leader.

I have been a school board member, a faithful church member, a tennis player (athlete), a slimnastics instructor, and on and on the list goes. Wife.  Friend, aunt, niece, sister.   Daughter.

Child, Youth, Adult, Senior Citizen, Retiree.

Most of all,  I am mother.  (And for a time, single mother.)   Now, grandmother. Step-mother. Step-great-grandmother.  Mother-in-law.

Often, over my lifetime, I've been the resident poet, always some version of writer. (of articles, newsletters, short stories, sermons, etc.)  And more recently, novelist.

I am an avid reader.  Today I went to the library to get a pile of books to read.  The clerk at the desk looked at my name which came up on the computer with my library card.  She said,  "Oh, are you the author?"

I am scheduled to give a Book Talk there in August, so she recognized my name.  Still, I think that might be the first time that I have been primarily identified by that particular version of me.