More than Labels; We are our Stories.

What have the stories I've written via Conversations@Intersections told you about me? Those of you who have never met me personally, do you feel like you know me better than some people you've met face-to-face? You read my stories and clips from my online wanderings, the links I think helpful and quotes or photos I find amusing or poignant.

What do they tell you about me? Just based on the contents of this blog,

including the goofy pictures, how do you know me?

A friend arrived from the US recently with two packets of Fig Newtons. It reminded me of my post on Childhood Memories in late 2008.

I've told you about my grandmother's love of pretty things, about the church of my childhood and the expectation that I would be married there. I've told you of travel, of Africa and of Abraham Lincoln.

Do you know my favourite soft drink, my favourite colour or what I do for fun?

Do you know the checklist for the man of my dreams, as if I'd get him to stop his white horse and ask his qualifications?

I am, as are you, far more than a name, a job and an address. We're even more than our car, our model of phone and the last movie we saw. We are more than our place in the birth order, more than our salary and more than any label others might try to apply.

We are our stories, somewhere between the ones we choose to tell about ourselves and those that others tell. We are part of a much bigger story that continues to unfold.

What do we know of others? How do we choose to be known?