So, Feel Any Different?

You know when a big birthday comes around (like 16 or 21) and everyone asks, "So, do you feel any different?" And you just kind of sit there and realize that no, you don't feel any different? It happens every time and yet you're still surprised when your birthday comes and goes and you still feel like the same person.
I've done this way too many times in my life. About everything! Birthdays, going off to college, getting married, etc. I fall for the same ruse every time.
I thought motherhood was going to completely change who I am. For whatever reason I pictured the dictionary definition of Kayla Coffey going from "Girl who loves gymnastics, wood burning, church, hiking, etc." to "A mother". Rather than thinking of motherhood as something that would add to me, I thought of it as something that would simply become me.
Just that.
Kayla the mother.
For you visual people, here's what I THOUGHT would happen:

And here's what ACTUALLY happened:

Surprisingly so, I feel like the same person.
I still love the same things and I still have the same hobbies. *shocker* Motherhood is just a new hobby I've acquired! And just like most of my hobbies, it meshes well with others. I can wood burn with James strapped to me, I can listen to music and play the piano for him, I can have fun and do gymnastics with him, I can take him outside with me to hike, walk, play in the creek, etc.
James has taken up SO MUCH of my heart (and my time haha), but it's a relief to see that he and McKay haven't taken up my whole heart. There's still room for wood burning, coaching, piano playing, hiking and more :)
I'm happy to say that the things that make me, me, still make me, me. (that was a fun sentence... haha)
Motherhood is fantastic and great and beautiful, and I'm so happy that I can continue to identify with those other areas of my life that I am not ready to let go of (most I will never let go of). As the years pass my "Things That Make Up Kayla" chart will shift and change, and that makes me so happy! I wasn't into wood burning and hiking at 15 years old. I was into boys. And into TPing peoples houses with my friends. My chart now looks WAY different than it would've then. And my chart in 10 years will probably look way different than it does now.
This post has been a big jumbled mess of the thoughts running around in my brain, and I have no clever way to end it.
Soooo.
Change is gradual, and I'm thankful that motherhood is now part of who I am, but not all that I am.
And that's all I have to say about that.