Am I A Mommy Blogger or Something New and Different?

I keep hearing about "Mommy Bloggers."  I understand that it refers to Mom's that write blogs.  Does that definition only refer to young mom's that write blogs?  Or can those of us who no longer fit the definition of "young" claim that fame as well?  My kids are grown-up, I am a widow...I no longer work outside the home.  What am I?  Who am I?

Along my path in life I've learned some excellent lessons.  One of those lessons is "Do NOT allow your profession to become your definition of self."  I know that will sound strange to some people.  To some the thrill of competition, charging yourself to rise, always rise on the ladder upwards towards financial security and "success" becomes the heart and soul of their self-definition.

When we buried my beloved Mom-in-law I was trying to distract myself from how sad I felt.  So I began to read the tombstones buried around her.  On one tombstone it said, "He was a successful businessman."  It made me think of Charles Dickens, "The Christmas Carol."  When Ebenezer Scrooge is visited late one Christmas Eve by the ghost of his business partner, Jacob Marley, Ebenezer is trying to comfort the grieving ghost.  Ebenezer says, "You were always a good man of business Jacob."  Jacob rises and shakes his chains as he cries out, "Business, MANKIND WAS MY BUSINESS!" 

At the relatively young age of 42 I was forced into retirement by multiple serious health problems.  Suddenly I was faced with a moral dilemma.  Who was I now?  I no longer had a career.  Yes, I was still a Mom, and a wife, but was that ALL that I was, or was that enough?

Surprise, surprise...life requires you to find new definitions of self as you move on through?  A beautiful passage from the Bible says, "To every thing turn, turn, turn, there is a season turn, turn, turn, and a time to every purpose under heaven, A time to be born, A time to die..."  Is there a new definition that you gain as you face these new seasons? 

I'm finding that letting go of the old sorrows, grief, frustrations, and looking for the newness in life, even for my Mama at 94 years of age, can be the very best, ultimate definition.  The definition that says, "This person NEVER quit learning, and trying new things!"  That is the definition I want.