Who I am

I don’t know about you, but I get a little confused at times as to who exactly I am and even what to call myself. It depends upon the circumstances and who I am with to some extent: In a shop I may be ‘Madam’ or ‘Love’. In other parts of the country it might be ‘Duck’, ‘Pet’, ‘Luvva’ or ‘Hen’. At home I can be Baoli, Pauline, or Mom. Elsewhere I might be Mrs Kang or Rex’s wife, Bryssa’s Mom, Weiwei’s sister or even occasionally myself. I have been identified as Junfeng’s daughter, Hongyan’s niece, Jingbo’s cousin – I could go on. I am a wife and mother, a daughter, sister, cousin, neighbour. I am a cook, a student, a gardener, the lady at number 740 and a woman. Sometimes I take on several of these roles in one day and even more than one at once.

(adapted by article of Margaret Watson)