The Identity of Mary J

“In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.”

~Erik Erikson~

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What is your identity?

Do you have a definition of who you are?

Are you a unique individual with purple hair and a nose ring or a combination of your parents and life-long experiences?

I’m not sure what to say about myself. I’ve been pondering my own identity of late and what that might look like in print. I’ll respond to that in a bit. But, first,the dictionary definition…

1. The distinguishing character or personality of an individual or 2) the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.

In essence, all of us are a totally distinguished personality. We are both tall and short, thin and pleasingly plump, full of wit and painfully droll, artistic and scientific, willing to dive off a cliff and afraid of the water, courageous and meek, mentally driven and a couch potato, red-haired and blonde, religious and devilish, black and white, Mensa material and algebra stunted, really nice and not really nice. There’s so much that makes up an identity that revolves around personality, what we say and how we say it, what we do, the kind of clothes we wear, the type of job we have, etc.

Which leads me to my own definition, my identity.

Looking in the mirror, I see a white female of German heritage, about 5’8″ (one inch less than I used to be), dark hair from a box, tortoise shell glasses, blue eyes (thanks Dad), a cute nose and an overbite from the early years of sticking a thumb in my mouth. I’m not as thin as I used to be, but still a good weight for age 60. I have very few wrinkles (thanks genetics) and long, thick fingers. My big toes stick out farther than the others, which requires a half size larger shoes than would otherwise be needed.

I cry over the National Anthem, sappy movies and certain songs, and am honest to a fault. Although I found out about co-dependency nine years ago, I also found out about determination and courage. I don’t always finish what I start (books of late), but enjoy whatever I’m doing when I’m doing it. I have a strong work ethic, but yearn for retirement. I don’t like confrontation and prefer to keep the peace. I was painfully shy as a child, much more social as an adult. I have a great sense of humor, at least in my own mind.

Sometimes my mind wanders…

Where was I?

Oh yeah…

I am a Star Trek nerd. I love cats and dogs, kittens and puppies, and almost all creatures (still hate June bugs and leeches) on the planet. I love to take my bicycle on the trails and thank God for the beautiful landscape. I am a woman of faith, still working on walking the walk, and a Harley chick at heart. I look forward to digging in the dirt every spring and playing with arts and crafts. I’m not the best at the latter, but keep trying. There’s something awesome about creating with your own two hands.

I have a sweet tooth and love most foods except…

(If you’ve been following me for a while, you may know which two foods I hate the most. If not or if you’ve forgotten, feel free to take a guess.)

It’s not chocolate or cupcakes or corned beef that I dislike. I don’t drink red wine, but love me some beer and a well-made brandy old fashioned. You know this about me, right?

I’m a little goofy, weird perhaps. If you would overhear conversations between myself and Natasha or myself and friend Sandy, you would wonder about me, about us. We don’t take life too seriously and are willing to talk stupid once in a while. Or fairly often. It’s the kind of goofiness everyone should have because life really is too short to not square dance in the kitchen (Natasha and I have traded in the polka for something new).

That’s a lot of information about Mary J.

So, I’m going to stop here. This is enough identity for a One-Liner Wednesday that is way over the word limit. That’s something else about me – I can’t shut up on a dime when I’m on a roll.

I hope Linda forgives me as I forgive others.

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This post has not been brought to you by a blogger’s identity. It has also been brought to you by Linda G. Hill’s “One-Liner Wednesday.” All you need to play along every week is an awesome one-liner and follow a few rules. Birds on a wire are not required, but make sure you link back today’s post to HERE so the rest of us #1linerweds peeps can read it.