Definitions

We define people by a lot of different things: what they do, what their name is, where they come from, how much money they have, etc. For example, I was probably defined the following ways today by people I came into contact with: wife, mother, Visiting Teaching Supervisor, driver of blue Corolla, patient in Dr.'s office, friend, customer in restaurant, customer in store, daughter-in-law, driver of gold minivan, impatient person on phone. I'm probably missing a few.

I feel like I am most often defined as "mother". I am proud of that. I love to be defined as "mother" or even "good mother", "patient mother", "hip mother". But today I got to take a break from being defined as "mother" and play other roles. I had a Dr. appointment so the kids went to Grandma Worth's. After the Dr. appointment I went to lunch with my girlfriend. For all the people in that restaurant knew, I had no children. Maybe we were on our lunch break from work. Maybe I'm independently wealthy. I was just a little bit mysterious! I wasn't immediately definable by the pack of kids I was carrying around. It felt nice. I love being a "mother" - but sometimes it's good to be incognito.