Five Minute Friday: Identity

Today I am linking up with The Gypsy Mama for Five Minute Friday to talk about “identity”. My job? Write for five minutes…no editing, no over thinking, no worries. I’m a little late, but identity is a topic I find myself coming back to over and over, so…

Go…

On this weekend, ten years ago, I walked down a white runner to meet my soon-to-be husband, ready to change  my identity in the most significant way I could imagine up to that point in my life. A prayer, vows, words of encouragement, a kiss, and I no longer had the name “Cherne”, but my identity was forever linked with this handsome guy I had committed my love, life, and last name to.

It’s funny how at first I would forget, and introduce myself as “Rachel Cherne”, or I would go to write my name and quickly have to stop myself to write what was not yet familiar. It was strange at first to hear my new name spoken out loud, and especially strange to be called “Mrs. Hammond”.

My identity changed in an instant, but it took a bit to grow on me. Now, ten years later, I can’t imagine myself as anyone else. I will always be a part of the Cherne family, but my identity is now first as a wife to Ben, and a mom to Madi, Parker, and Fiona…as a Hammond. We have our own traditions, own way of doing things, own ways of showing love, and own way of living. It is as it should be, and I love how God created marriage this way…to take two people from different backgrounds and families, and put them together to create a new life and formulate a new identity…together.

Here’s to ten years as Rachel Hammond…and to many more.