just jeff
How, I wonder, do you form a whole life?
What I mean is, how do you knit your individual bits and pieces into a coherent person?
For years I worked in public education (14 as a junior high school principal). That became a central part of my identity. People would introduce me as, “This is Jeff, he is the principal at Willis Junior High School.”
Of course, I was more than a principal. A husband. A father. A son. A brother. A Christian. I enjoy photography, reading, writing, and fishing. I am all of these things.
But even now, as I approach one year of retirement, I am struggling to put those pieces together. I am not whole.
In the morning, I read my Bible and pray. Then I tackle the events of the day. Chores, volunteer work, and helping out my family. Sometimes I manage to slip away for a night or two of camping with the dog. I take naps, read books, go to church and watch a basketball, or baseball game on occasion. I might get out to the river for some pictures and photography. All those things define who I am, but I still feel very compartmentalized.
I want to put all of those activities, interests, and personality traits into a proverbial blender and mix them up until they become indistinguishable. I don’t want them to go away, rather I want one to bleed into another. I want them to be inseparable. I want to learn how to make that happen.
I want people to introduce me as, “This is just Jeff.”