Identity

What makes us? Webster’s defines identity as, “sameness of essential or generic character in different instances; or oneness.” But what makes us who we are? As we walked into Hubbard Park, as we did every Sunday, my father would ask, “Do you think they know we’re coming?” Of course he was asking about the Mallards that used the pond as their summer home. It was a little running joke my father and I …

…that. I’ll take all of these memories, lessons if you will, with me when I’m gone; except for the parts that I’ve passed on to my son, nieces, nephews, friends, family, and everyone else who has gotten to know me well. Identity develops from what you learn and whom you learn it from. Identity just stops being yours in the end and becomes a part of others whose lives you’ve touched.