Erica Gerald Mason

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tell me who you are

But first, let me tell you who I am:

It's Tuesday morning. The alarm clock rings. If you're like me, you hit the snooze button once (okay, twice). You get out of bed, check your messages (please tell me I'm not the only one who does this), take care of personal matters (ahem). And then you actually start your day.

For me, it changes not just daily, but hourly. I started my morning as a wife (holla!),  then went downstairs to let the dogs outside. Pet owner. Grabbed some coffee at Starbucks. Customer. Came home, and had a quick chat with my the woman who lives next door. Neighbor. Went to my office, shipped some of my notebooks, and did some behind the scenes work. Business owner. My daughter woke up, so I kept her company while she had breakfast, then we went grocery shopping. Mom, and customer again. I've been playing email and phone tag with a local organization for which I've signed up to do volunteer work. Citizen.  In about an hour, I'm going to take my mom to a doctor's appointment...she asked me to come with her, in case she has any questions. Daughter.

Looking at my calendar for the next week, I can add sister, aunt, niece, friend, mentor and colleague to my list.

It's not just who I'll be that matters. It's how much of me I carry into each role.

How much of my values show up in everything I do? I would like to think quite a bit.

I was at Target once, and a friend heard my laugh from two aisles over. She immediately came to find me because she knew it was me and had to come over and say hi.

That's who I want to be, right there. That's exactly what I want. 

For someone to know I'm in the building, in proximity, and have an irresistible urge to say hello. To bring my own brand of crazy/funny/caring/curiosity/happiness/thoughtfulness and a little bit of ohmygoodness to every inch of my life.

The classic song by The Verve, Bittersweet Symphony, has the lyric I'm a Million Different People From One Day to the Next.

How many people are you? And what do you bring along to each version of you?

who are you today?