What Defines You?

What makes Ryan Adkins, Ryan Adkins?

The answer is simple, but it comes in many parts.

I am defined by the words on a page. In second grade it was the single page stories written in crayon, with an accompanying horrible illustration. By junior high it was the papers I wrote in the hours before class and still managed to pass. High school was more of the same. As time progressed it was how I conveyed my ideas. Words are my most powerful ally. A letter to my girlfriend, a well-timed text message, a short story, a chapter, or even the multitude of explanatory email messages I bombard my students with on a near-daily basis. My words are everywhere and they are my way of finding myself, and sharing that self with those around me.

Words even explode from the subject matter I teach. Which leads me to the next portion of what defines me: the class that sits before me. I see myself in each of their faces: the quiet student in the back of the room; the slacker waiting until three a.m. to write a paper that's due in six hours; the love-struck young one who can't wait to leave just to hear their partner's voice; the writer disguising his prose as notes so the teacher doesn't know; the student who doesn't want to read his assignment, and even the one who does. I was each of them at some period in my life, and in many ways still am. I look at them and I see myself, or more accurately the evolution of myself, the definition of who I have came to be.

And the final and most important of all, I define myself through the one I love. Never has a single person pushed me as hard as she has. She found a spark, a sleeping drive with in me, and she brought it to life. Without her, I doubt I would have ever made it where I am today. She implanted courage, and gave me strength. For all of these things and many more, I am grateful.

So how do I define myself? The written word, the class I stand before, the woman I love, and so much more. We've only scratched the surface, but there's a lifetime left to explore.