Our time in California is coming to an end. My husband has finished gathering deformed frogs by the bucket-load, and we are now off to Colorado for the remainder of his postdoc. California has been good to us, but living in a research house for the summer has presented some personal challenges.

One has been accepting my fate as housewife, mom and the only adult non-researcher in the house. While Brett and the PhD students went about their field and lab work, I sat on the sidelines, cooking and cleaning. In my weaker moments I wanted to scream out: “I'm not just a housewife, I'm a postdoc too — and by the way, your analysis is wrong!”

But then I began to wonder: can I still call myself a postdoc? Or am I just clinging to that label to feel better about surrendering my career?

Feverishly trawling the web for definitions, I try to reassure myself. Surely a postdoctoral scientist includes all those who engaged in some sort of research after earning their doctoral degree in science? Alas, to my chagrin, all the definitions point to the fact that, to be a 'postdoc', you actually do have to be employed, working in some type of research.

So I guess I'm not officially a postdoc anymore. But maybe that's OK. Through the peaks and troughs of this chaotic year, I am slowly realizing that my career does not define me. I define my career.