This is so weird.

Being pregnant is kind of like you've been possessed by a tiny, mysterious little thing. Maybe not so much possessed like by an alien or a spirit or something, as you've been taken possession of.

But man, it's cool. It's so damn cool. There's a person inside my body right now, a real person, with organs and bones and a brain that's figuring things out.

Within the next little while here, that person's brain is going to develop to the point that he'll realize what's around him. He'll start becoming aware of sensations and knowledge of things. (This is smooth, that is soft... something is touching me, it is brighter now...) He'll try to understand what he's feeling, reaching out with tiny fingertips and limbs to explore this soft, warm place he's in. The fluid in his inner ear will develop, and so he'll gain a sense of when he's in one position over another, and what he likes or doesn't like.

Isn't that wild? One day, you're just floating around, blissed out and oblivious, and then practically the next you're AWARE. Suddenly, you realize you're not so fond of lying like this, but prefer that. You notice the difference between light and dark, and understand that there IS a difference, and that with one comes motion and the other, stillness. You start having ideas -- bright, colorful, beautiful ideas that no one in the world will ever have any understanding or knowledge of. You become separate, aware; an entirely new being that never was before it suddenly is.

It's made me start to think harder on something -- when does someone become a person, an individual? We are human and unique from conception, by a predestined organization of genes and molecules and so on. But when do we become ourselves?

This is a long running question, brought up mostly by the pro-choice and pro-life camps. That is not what I'm doing here, but instead I pose the question, if it's possible to do so, separately from that argument. When it comes down to your basic understanding and belief, when do we become PEOPLE? Is it when we are conceived, or when brain function develops to the point of awareness, or when we are physically independent of our mothers? There are so many different points of view on this subject.

What's yours? Please do share. I'm just musing, just curious.