I started this post last summer but never got around to finishing it.
It was so hard for me to change my name when I got married. Though I knew I wanted to change my name, it was an interesting transition filled with emotions.
First, I cried at the Social Security Office.
Then I didn’t want to tell my dad that I didn’t even keep my maiden name as my middle name. Like I “dropped” it? Ouch. That sounds harsh.
There was one point where I was meeting someone new for the first time and my maiden name just rolled right off my tongue and I had to correct myself and say “no, that’s actually not my name.”
And then going the other way, I was in Florida with LEM last January and the woman in Talbots asked me for my email address and I quickly blurted out joanna.platt@gmail.com. That’s NOT my email address, I don’t even know where that came from!
And then I was picking up a book at the library held under my last name and I went and started looking at N.
But now, just a short year later, I’m totally Joanna Platt. I’m very comfortable with my new name. I own it.
I am Joanna Platt.
Wow, even typing that it seems like such a bold statement. But that’s who I am.
It doesn’t sting anymore when I see my new name in my dad’s handwriting, it’s not uncomfortable when I look on Facebook and I don’t have the same last name as my little sisters. I confidently sign my name and introduce myself.
I think the transition comes from time and also from being more comfortable with myself, who I am, and who I’m becoming.
As I think about next steps in life, start a business, and dream about what the future holds, I am Joanna Platt.
Still the girl I’ve always been but new in many ways.
