Took Long Enough.

Names are so weird. Some people love theirs. Others hate theirs. I've pretty much always been indifferent on mine. Melissa was the number 1 or 2 name in the year I was born, so I was never the only one - good if there are rumors or you're in trouble (no one knows which Melissa it is) or bad if you just get lots in the crowd of them. Speaking of "Melissa confusion," one of the funniest stories ever was in high school. Cody was sort of "hanging out" with another girl named Melissa. They weren't officially dating but they hung out. He took her to Homecoming, etc. - I was, of course, insanely jealous but it wasn't really my thing to butt it at that time. Well, I guess she wanted to date but he told her he was too busy with work and school and soccer and didn't want a girlfriend. Of course about a month later we started dating but it was pretty hush-hush. Turns out another Melissa (that makes three in this twisted tale) found out that him and I were dating and told everyone in school that "Cody was dating Melissa." Since the vast majority of the people I knew called me Missy and everyone had known Cody had been hanging out with the other Melissa, everyone assumed that Cody was dating the first Melissa. She heard that rumor and really thought they were dating (here's where I find her insanely dumb - who hears a rumor that they're dating someone and believes it without talking to that person!!!) so it turned into this whole drama thing because I, of course, heard that she thought she was dating my boyfriend. It eventually got worked out obviously because I have his last name and she doesn't. :)
So, back to the point of this blog - my last name. Before we got married I was all about changing my name. I couldn't wait. Before we got married I was Melissa Elizabeth-Ann - the Elizabeth got added in high school - a long story. Anyway, after the wedding I went through some serious name changing identity crisis. I had always been - my entire schooling and career - all my "connections" and friends - everyone knew me by that name. If I had been married at 19 it would have been different - but I'd had this name for a long time. To add to that, no matter what job I have my email will always have my last name in it- right now it's mflynn. My clients, co-workers and other people I encounter for work can all deal with that. They could not handle mraffensperger. I'm not discounting their intelligence, but I know when I have to email people with long last names, I always have to look up their addresses so they will be spelled right (it took me months to be able to email my friend Melanie from home because her email didn't pop up automatically on my home computer and her last name is 11 letters long). So I bounced back and forth. Hypenation? Keep my maiden name (which it's strange that all of a sudden the name I have had for years is now referred to as my "maiden name")? Drop the last name? Luckily I have smart friends and I talked with my friend Meghan and she said that she just added her new last name when she got married. No two middle names or two last names - just four names. GENIUS!
So, Friday I went and finally got myself a Missouri drivers license (I tried to get the social security card first but they required I get my license first). I am now legal to drive in Missouri - 3.5 years after moving here. :) And my new name is . I dropped the Elizabeth, not out of choice per se, but because it wouldn't fit in the space they have. :) I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep it on my social security card or not. But I like the way this looks - I'm getting used to it. Now I can legally keep my maiden name for work - my kids won't be saddled with whatever I do with my career and my clients won't have to learn to spell Raffensperger. And Raffensperger will go on everything else - credit cards, bank accounts, etc. I really like the solution as it works for me. It's not for everyone - as already people are saying I'm insane - but it works for me. I do now, however, have more letters in my name then the entire alphabet. :)
So now I'm officially a Raffensperger - though I've considered myself one for quite a while. Now I can officially call Cody and I the "Raffensperger Part of Two" (this is an inside joke with me and Cody's sister). :)