Who will I be?

I am really worried about who I will be once I graduate with my Masters degree. Not in terms of "who" I will be, but "what" I will be to the world. For the last 20 years I have been a student (!!), and so that's who/what I view myself to be, and, essentially, what the world sees me as. I am a daughter, a friend, a sister, a cousin, a girlfriend...all these statuses are ingrained in the essence of who I am, and so is being a student. Come August, I will be losing a huge part of who I am, and I find that so disturbing... what will I "be" when I go to the doctor and they ask me what my occupation is?? Or fill out a form?? Because I am traveling and working for a year before settling down in a full-time job, I will be "unemployed". Is that my status? Should I keep up the ruse of a "student"? Should I associate with my degree and be a "soil scientist"? Or with my up-bringing and be a "farmer"?

The one thing that university doesn't prepare you for is the big, real world. I am used to the change of school terms- my daily life shifting every 4 months, my evenings filled with homework (or thoughts of homework), and stressing about juggling part-time work with pleasure and school. It is hard to imagine an evening with no thoughts of schoolwork or an upcoming meeting... Part of me wants to enroll into a PhD program just so that I can continue to be a student... Maybe one day I will... In the near future, I hope to become a wife, and a mommy, and maybe after that a student again. We'll see.

For now though, I need to focus on the moment, and write, write, write... Things are coming along well. It is very fulfilling to bring together the last 2 years of my labour into graphs and tables and words, all condensed into 80 pages. :)