Idendity - More than "just a mom"?

A new first-time mom recently asked me if I felt like I lost my identity in being a mother (especially of four, I guess). She was somewhat worried about losing hers in the seemingly all-consuming task of caring for an infant. If my identity is defined by my talents and skills and being able to continually cultivate them, then yes, I suppose that which is Anne is at least temporarily misplaced somewhere. And it is also true that I am currently defined by the fact that I'm the mother of four children, who are much more endearing and talented than I am and will probably always eclipse me in popularity. However, I told the other mother that no, I did not feel I had lost my identity. There is more to me than just a mother, and in fact, that which is me creates my particular type of mothering. I could get caught up in pouring myself into the talents of my children, but that would be just as bad for them - their lives aren't all about being all they can be just for the sake of it, either. I could, of course, become in very essence a homeschool mom, or an AP mom, or whatever - I could only read parenting and homeschooling books and devote myself to finding ONLY organic food and waging war against those dare cast a dissaproving eye of my parenting philosophies, etc. The fact is that I breastfeed my babies, keep them close, refuse to push independence on them, homeschool, and try to keep things fairly natural, but all that is because of who I already am, and that person is always growing and learning in every area. That person also still likes music, reading, history, and organizing just for the sake of it - although all that may be hidden behind the very obvious task of filling the needs of four little people. But there, even that job is who I am, because even as I was created for the glory of God, I live on earth to serve the needs of people, and that's what children are. They become the people who make the world go round and, hopefully, fill the kingdom. Raising them may be demanding and, coming back to the point, all-consuming, limiting my personal space and time for fun, but all that is sheer luxury that the vast majority of the humans who have lived on this world have enjoyed in very limited quantities. It's only our modern western culture that sees that kind of luxury as a right, and parenting as an optional choice. A longer time ago a friend and I were talking about Proverbs 31, and she mentioned that her mother, who I have always respected, thought that woman probably didn't do all those things all at the same time in her life. So remembering that I have tried to think of my life as a whole - for now I am defined, but not consumed entirely, by what I do and that is caring for children. Later that which is Anne will be expressed in different ways, just as it was before my mothering journey.