Read the Label!!

 "We are not soup cans, we do not need labels."  I agree.  Why does everyone insist on trying to label everyone else?

I mean, does it make it so if you label me  'corporate sellout'?  What about 'goth'?  Is that going to define who I am?  I don't think so.  I've been labeled a lot of things in my life and most of them were so wrong it's ridiculous.  Do you want to know who I am?  Get to know me first.  I have met some of the most interesting people I know by just talking to them before I decide for myself who they are.

Some of the labels I've gotten and the reasoning (as much as I can figure out):

1 - 'stuck up' - because I was super shy and didn't talk to people
2 - 'bookworm' - because I like to read.  Seriously, have you tried it?!
3 - 'prep' - I happen to think polo shirts are an acceptable way to dress down at work without breaking out the tee's
4 - 'know-it-all' - because I graduated from college.  Honest to gosh, that's what he said!
5 - 'unstable worker' - because I had switched jobs frequently figuring out what I wanted to do
6 - 'townie' - I had lived in the college town long enough after college to be one


There have been many, many labels - some good, some bad and some just plain ugly.  None of them are ME.  Mostly labels are just inappropriate, unfair, wrong and hurtful. 

So, who am I?  I'm a voracious reader, a family person, intensely loyal, multi-tasker, punk-rock music listener, a fan of art and handmade items, a dreamer, a wisher on stars, a blogger, an administrator, a list maker, a mother, a wife, a sister, an aunt, a friend, a shoulder to cry on, whimsical, off-beat sense of humor, fan of all things British, a collector of trivia, there's so much more that I could put here.

You will notice that nowhere in that list are what kinds of clothes I wear, what color I am, what religion I am, what my sexual orientation is or what my hair/makeup is like.  Those things don't make me who I am.  People are always amazed to meet me and then to stop by my office and hear my music.  One woman said, as she walked in, "Are you seriously listening to ICP?"  "Yes, yes I am", I responded.  She just walked away looking confused.  So that day it was ICP, maybe tomorrow it will be the Beatles...or the Ramones...or Hank Williams Jr.  It doesn't matter - I can like them all - they all live together in my files.