Being a writer

Before this class started, I don't know that I would have classified myself as a writer if asked. I looked through my old school memory binders with report cards, projects, pictures, and assignments. I was surprised to find several items that I had written from different times in my schooling. Even though some of it is 15+ years old, I still feel some sort of connection to what is on the page--I recognize it as mine. It is kind of weird because I obviously have become a more sophisticated writer since third grade, but the voice remains. I only remember writing one paper in elementary school that didn't feel like "mine" and it bothers me to this day. I can't find it, but remember reading it aloud to my fifth grade class and not totally recognizing the words coming out of my mouth as my own. Interesting and humbling. I guess I now consider myself a writer and it isn't because I just started, but because I've been doing it and making meaning from words for so long. I have continued to write in school and home for different reasons and think I always will. I can't imagine going a day without making some sort of scribble on scratch paper, etc. I'd like to meet someone who says they don't write and see what exactly that means.