Self Image. Who Am I? What Am I?

I recently cleared a lot of stuff out of the attic. Precious blocks and patterns from my designer years, Boxes of fabric that have come in handy for many things, a set of Nativity costumes used in school performances, school stuff generally. And from my bookshelves a host of books used for study - degree, diplomas and certificates. Books related to Divinity, Sociology, Psychology, Education, History etc etc. Remnants of my past life as a Designer, Teacher, Lay Minister. Stuff I kept thinking I might write a novel set in Victorian times or maybe in the era of Roman conquest. These are like the framework of personas that came and went away. Now I write. Little different to saying, 'I paint'. I have pictures around the house and my books on my shelves. Who am I? What am I? Questions we all ask ourselves at some stage of our lives.

I looked through the photo album to find a photograph that seemed the most relevant at this stage of my life. I decided on this one. Looking forward. I am standing alone, and that is the way it has been in most of what I have done and achieved — academically and in the workplace. But I am not alone in my life. Does our work define who we are? To me that is a side issue. I am a wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, a homemaker, friend and neighbour. If we cling to what was, what might have been, to faded hopes and dreams, the 'stuff in the attic of our lives' then we miss the scene around us and the joys that may well lie ahead.