Are We What We Do?

So much of how we define ourselves has to do with our work. Whether we work for pay or give our time for love, we tend to be what we "do". Isn't that the first question we ask when we meet someone new? "So, what do you do?" and don't we have wonderful euphemisms if we happen to be outside of a "profession"? "I'm between assignments, right now.", "I'm a stay-at-home-mom/dad" (a grand misnomer, if there ever was one!) "I'm re-evaluating my direction."

Rovinj, Croatia

Having spent the last few months outside the working world - or in between assignments - I have begun to notice that I appreciate more deeply what "normal" people take for granted...Sunrises, full moons,  birds at the feeder. My life is less structured and I am able to spend a few minutes really listening to a friend's story, watching the sun go down or the snow falling.

I am not independently wealthy, nor in a position to retire from the working world. Soon I will rejoin the hectic pace that is required to keep the wheels of industry humming and the paychecks coming...which makes these brief moments of totally undirected time even more precious. Too soon when someone asks, "What do you do?" I will not be able to answer, "I wander and wonder..." but I am so grateful, that for a short while, that was my profession.