As Inara continues to grow and the more time I spend with her, the more I begin to see and understand her personality (or, at least, I think I do)…
And in doing so, the more I am reminded of and see myself. The more I understand me.
I experienced this with Nemesia too but with different personality traits.
Like me, Nemesia is highly sensitive, thoughtful, and nurturing. Inara, on the other hand, has “the confidence of 10,000 cisgendered white me”—as Nemesia once put it—and constantly strives to learn and be understood. (Inara is the version of my self that referred to the neighborhood kids as “my kids”, the one who gave away all of her money and Otter Pops to her kids. And when I no longer lived in that neighborhood I would continue to look for strays. So that they knew that they didn’t need to be alone if they didn’t want to.)
My girls are so different. But, they are both me. My Clark and Superman.
Monarose 