definitions

I feel like I should clarify a little bit of the story behind the first paragraph of yesterday’s post.

In the midst of my infertility (which I never wanted to be defined by), I had a conversation with someone (who was well aware of our infertility) who was telling me about this group of friends that she and her husband had.  In this group of friends was a couple who had lost a baby somewhere in the first part of a second trimester and since then had been struggling to get pregnant for over a year.

This person proceeded to tell me how she never had anything to talk about with this friend of hers other than her own kids, because her kids were her life as a stay-at-home mom.

I called “Bull”.

Yes, as a stay-at-home mom (I would argue as a working mom, too); your kids consume a pretty decent portion of your time and your thoughts.  However, you are as defined by your role choose to be.

I choose to be defined by lots of things – my role as mom, wife, frequent hair-do obsesser, reality tv junkie, thinker, Jesus follower, shopper, shoe-lover, Scrabble genius, friend, daughter, sister, aunt, booger picker, nursery teacher, rotten housekeeper, rock-star baker, comedian, Moms Group hater, infertile, budget follower, etc.

Ever since my high school days, I’ve hated labels and getting put in a box.  We are all so much more than that one label that often gets stamped onto us by our society, peer group, etc.  So, why do we choose to brand ourselves with a singular label when we have the freedom to write our own definition?