Bloom (The Survivor): Good morning Mom!

Mom (Me): Good morning Bloom. How are you feeling this morning?

Bloom: I feel great! I’m happy — it feels so good to have the family back together. Wouldn’t you agree, sis?

Libra (The Friend): I would, yes!  It kind of feels like things here are getting back to normal.

Lark’s Twin: I guess that makes me abnormal, then.

Libra: Only if all of us are abnormal. Which maybe we are, but I don’t mind it.

Lark (The Dreamer): This space exists for Mom to process her past, make sense of her present, and build her future. Struggle and challenge are par for this course.

Lark’s Twin: Ah, so I’m a *challenge* then.

Lark (playful): You’re challeng*ing*, certainly.

Lark’s Twin (dry): Hah hah. Though I suppose I set you up for that one.

Lark (smiling): You did, dear sister.

Mom: It looks like you’re fitting in just fine, daughter.

Lark’s Twin: I guess, though it’s a little difficult to feel like part of the family without a name. I don’t want to be known as “Lark’s Twin” forever… No offense, sis.

Lark: None taken!

Ivy (The Companion): How can we name you if we don’t even know what you are?

Lark’s Twin (angry): Wh… I’m your sister!

Mom: I thought you were still asleep, Ivy.

Ivy: I just got up. Besides, that’s not what I meant. I’m the Companion, Lark is the Dreamer, Libra the Friend, Bloom the Survivor. So what are you?

Lark’s Twin (taken aback): I… I don’t…

Mom: I’ve given this a lot of thought in the last several weeks. Lark’s Twin was dominant in my 20s, when I was just out of school and trying to take my first steps as an independent woman. That was when I went from student to employee in order to support my life. I tried to use my new agency to fulfill my dreams; that’s why she got tangled up with Lark for so long, but that’s not who she is. Lark’s Twin is the persona I created to survive as a career woman and navigate the corporate world. She is the Professional.

The Professional (astonished): Oh, of course! My expertise is at your service.

Libra (smiling): Congratulations! How does it feel to be a persona?

The Professional: I was always Mom’s persona, but it’s good to understand where I fit, all the same.

Bloom (grinning): That means it’s time! It’s time to give you a nickname!

Libra (exasperated): Here we go.

Bloom (excited): Hush! I’ve got this; piece of cake! Let’s see — your domain is Mom’s career, and you started that career in an office, so… Office Girl!

The Professional (confused): What? No.

Bloom: But see, there’s this Japanese concept of “Office Lady” for women who work in certain clerical positions…

The Professional: We’re not Japanese! No!

Lark: When have we ever worked a clerical position?

Libra: I worked as a file clerk a couple of times, remember? And as an office assistant once, for like… Two weeks?

Bloom (triumphant): Hah, so it *is* relevant!

The Professional: Disagree! Those jobs weren’t career jobs, and they were before my time anyways. I’m a software engineer.

Bloom (annoyed): Maybe we should call you eGirl.

Ivy: Do all of her suggestions have the word “girl” in them?

Libra: Pretty much.

Mom: Let’s try something else. You were focused on corporate life, on making bank — maybe a money related name, somehow? Or something like “Silver” or “Gold”…

The Professional: You can’t just call me “Gold,” that’s not a name.

Mom: Fine then, not “Gold” exactly, maybe Aurum, or…

The Professional (surprised): That’s it!

Mom: Aurum?

The Professional: Aura. That’s even a name we’ve used for ourselves in the past.

Mom: I guess, but only as a fake DJ name, since we’ve never been a DJ. If I’m being generous, I suppose I could call it a performer name…

The Professional: Performing a role is half of what professionalism is. Even if you say “professionalism shouldn’t just be performance,” you know a lot of it is, and it’s what you created me to navigate. I want it.

Mom: Hmm. Okay then, it’s your name. Aura it is.

Aura (The Professional, satisfied): My name is Aura. *My* name is Aura.

(Lark leans over to give Aura a happy hug.)

Lark: Congratulations, Aura! Do you feel like part of the family now?

(Aura looks uncomfortable for a moment, then relents and hugs her sister back.)

Aura: Yeah… I think I’m getting there.