Who Am I?

That's so hard to answer. I had my kiddos pretend to be Halloween characters like ghosts or bats or vampires and then construct poems, formulaically, giving clues about who they were using all the right adjectives, verbs, and nouns and then we had to infer the character. It was really fun. They made beautiful haunted houses to illustrate their poems. I taught them how to cut out doors and windows so that they hinge and a creature can pop out. These works adorn the wall outside our classroom right now.

But more importantly, who am I? Hard to say. Have you ever asked it? Of yourself? I'm asking and answering now, here. I am female. I am 32. I have spent the last 12 years being a teacher, in one capacity or another. I grew up in El Paso, a border town, where I learned how to sing like a banshee and dance like a gypsy. I learned how to be strong and sensitive at the same time. I learned all about matters of the heart in the only ways I have ever understood them; in Latin. I am also 25% Lebanese but it feels more like at least 75-80%. I grew up on kibbe, taboulee, dolmeh, tzatziki, and lubia. I had a Sitie who wore cunning little heals, gold bangles that sang at her wrists, flowing, flowered silken dresses, and a lovely smile. I am Mormon, a Latter Day Saint. That means everything to me. It means I know the worth of souls, yours and mine. It means I know my divine destiny. It means the sacrifices are worth it, again and again, always. It means I can endure anything. It means this life is only the beginning. I am also rather tall, blond, and curvy. This means I'm trouble. Well, at least it means I often attract it. Oh well. I wish it meant something else. I am bookish and often reclusive except when I am gregarious and loud-mouthed. I am artistic, creative, and day dreamy, except when I am logical, pensive, deliberate, and hard-lined. I am the daughter of a lawyer and an artist. I am the sister of a psychologist, a lawyer, an artist, and a physics student. I am the best friend of a prima ballerina. I am the teacher of twenty two miraculous beings who are the most gorgeous children in the world. I am the smitten poet. I am the meloncholy caroler. I am the science loving nerd. I have an affinity for hackers...I mean programmers. And I am miserable at chess. Oh, and tennis. Miserable. At both. And at many other things. And I want to be a writer more than anything else...except for being a mommy and a wife who is adored by her very smitten husband. But if I never get the chance to be a family person, I hope I at least get to be a writer. I mean, the kind of writer who gets to eat on what she writes. Right now I am eating on blue china my Sitie left me and that's great but I want to eat on my author's dime someday. Someday will be a fine day. That's it! That's the answer. That's me. Like Art always says, "I love being me." (Art is an actual person in this case. No, seriously. He went to law school with Betsy. I'm not just employing personification here. Hi, Art!!!)