Who am I?

Throughout my life there have been different ways I have identified myself.  In college, when you meet someone they ask “What grade are you?” and “What’s your major?”.  These are easily answered and somewhat meaningful, though certainly didn’t identify who I was.

Once I had a job, the questions changed to “What department are you from?” or “What’s your title?”.  Whether I was from engineering or accounting made a big difference.  Was I a senior level engineer yet?  A manager?  External meetings and conferences changed the question slightly to “Where are you from?”.  Are you from Aleris or Alcoa?  Somehow that identified you. 

“What do you do?” is the question you hear when you are outside of work such as at an airport.  This means what your job is, not what you do outside of work.  Easy questions with easy answers.

At RV parks and campgrounds, the question changes to “Where are you from?”.  Now it’s your home or perhaps your past that identifies you.  We’re having a hard time answering that one.  Our home is the RV.  Yes, our mailing address and license plate is Arkansas, but we only lived there 2 years and most likely won’t live there after traveling.  For me, Ohio is my home while John grew up in West Virginia and spent ~40 years in Ohio.  And, who knows where we end up after our travels?  Should we answer with our past, our present, or our unknown future?  We are still stumbling on this question.