"The things that we love will tell us who we are."

Saw that quote today and it made me think. I suppose it is true - the things that we love will tell us something about ourselves, and combined, maybe they will tell us about the whole of ourselves.

I am a woman who loves to read.
I am a woman who loves animals.
... who loves the smell of clean laundry.
... who loves an overcast sky.
... who loves turkey sandwiches.
... who loves to laugh.
... who loves the sound fallen leaves make when blowing across pavement.

Those things I love alone do not make me who I am, though,

for I am also a woman who likes to gossip.
..... who has a swearing problem.
..... who often gets depressed.
..... who is obsessive about a lot of things.
..... who sometimes can smother people.
..... who isn't always as nice as she should be.
..... who sometimes settles for less than her best.

The things I love aren't all of me... I'm also hateful and hurtful, bitchy and whiney. I wish that the positive parts of me, the things that I love, were all that factored into the equation, but that wouldn't be honest.... but then again, I'm not always honest, either.

It's hard to admit that sometimes I like to talk badly about people and forget to take the garbage out on garbage day, but that's part of who I am and it wouldn't be fair to pass over those less-than-desireable pieces and focus only on the favorable ones.

Maybe instead, "The things that we love will tell us who we'd like to be."

Or, even more honestly, "The things that we love will tell us what we want others to see."