Marriage

In response to my last post, I wanted to write a little about my thoughts on marriage. First off, I have to say that it is wonderful. I've never been able to do so much in my life. The hours during one of my first weeks back from work were brutal. When I say brutal, I mean I would go to work in the morning, and come home about a half hour before I needed to go to bed. I still remember one day I was so stressed because I hadn't had the time to do my laundry. I was actually planning on starting to wear dirty clothes to work (I didn't really have much of an option). Then when I got home from work that day, I was so relieved to see that Branden had taken the time to wash our clothes. It was just such a relief! I was amazed at how something so simple could make such a huge difference.

The first two weeks though were so difficult. I expected to instantly be the perfect homemaker. I took time off of work so I could finish buying our furniture, cook, and clean. Well, I learned that if you spend all day buying furniture (I fit a coffee table, a chair, a laundry basket, and two night stands in my car -- I'm still proud of that), you don't have time to cook dinner for your sweet hubby before he walks in the door (a failure in my head). And, I also learned that my duvet cover is really too big for the dryer, and after 45 minutes or so, I learned that ironing it doesn't really work.

Fortunately for me, my husband has more realistic expectations than I do. He doesn't want a perfect house or dinner waiting on the table when he gets home. He just wants a happy wife. Hopefully soon I'll get used to calling him my husband!

What's in a Name?

So, I'm happy to announce that I have officially changed my name. Great, right? So you would think.

It took me a while to decided what I wanted my new name to be. I've never gone by my first name, but I thought that dropping it, though it would make sense, would be a pain. I can't drop my middle name (it's what I've always gone by), and I LOVE my maiden name. So after much contemplation, I decided just to live out the rest of my life with 4 names. I mean, Branden has two middle names, so why shouldn't I?

 

Well, apparently, the Social Security Administration disagrees. Apparently they can't change my first name without a specific court order. And they had a gall to tell me while I could use my maiden name and my husband's last name for my new last name that they wouldn't be able to fit my middle name and maiden name as a middle name on the card. I actually considered just truncating it as a middle..... and then I realized that having Jeffer as a name on my card doesn't make any sense. My name is not Jeffer. It has never been Jeffer. 

So, in the end I lost my maiden name, and it broke my heart. I seriously considered going back to the social security office to see if I could change my mind and do a two-name last name, but ultimately I want the same last name as my husband and children.

So here's to you SSA. I may never go by my legal name in my life--because I'm not willing to pay $600 for a court order.