Who are you?

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/the_who

Just typing out the title of this one makes me start humming... Who are you?  Who Who Who Who... Or whatever the words are to that song by The Who.  The younger generation, which includes Sons #1 and #2, knows the song thanks to the CSI series of TV shows.
We started off this school year with a new middle school director and he used that as the theme for his first Community Meeting talk to his new charges, both faculty and students.  And I, in turn, decided to use it in class as Qui es-tu?  A great way to get kids to talk about themselves and teach adjectives.
The question takes me, personally, way back to my middle school days.  About the time when I really became aware of myself as a person, a separate entity all unto my own self.  Different from my parents.  From my siblings. From my cousins.  I always wondered what made me me.  Do other people sit around and think about this?  I have no idea.  I am not sure I have ever even shared this with another living human being.  Why am I who I am?  And when it comes right down to it, who am I?
I am a small town girl from the Appalachian Mountains.
I am the first person in my family to go to college.
I am the oldest of four children.
I am a French teacher.
I am a wife.
I am the mother of two boys.
I am messy.
I am a cooker and an eater.
I am a lover of all things French.
I am stubborn and independent.
I am a music lover.
I am sometimes insecure.
I am an optimist.
I am an incurable romantic.
I am a hard worker.
I am defensive.
I am a creature of habit.
I am grumpy sometimes, but it rarely lasts long.
I cry when looking at paintings that move me.
I wake up every morning with a song in my head and sing it in the shower.
I regret not getting to know my grandparents better.
I wear my heart on my sleeve.
I usually have too many irons in the fire.
I love my friends and family.
I get so engrossed in some of the books that I read that I feel I am actually in the story.
I believe that people are good.
I want to live to be 95.
I want to live in France.
I want to write a book.
I want to know that I have helped others.
I want my ashes to be scattered in the mountains, in Paris, and in Provence.
I want to see my boys settled and happy.
Actually, I am probably not very different from everyone else.  But I am me.  And note to middle school self-- I kind of like the way we've turned out. But there is still so much more I want to do and see and sing and learn and eat and cook.

Bon appétit, whomever you are!