What’s in a Family Name?

Of all the relationships I have had, the most fun one has always been with Smoggie. I haven’t seen him since 2009, and yet he has been the recipient of all my emotional outbursts. He is always my 1^st call, even when I know he is not at the receiving end of that call - I’d rather leave a message for him than talk with anyone else.

This morning, as I checked my email, I realized for the umpteenth time that Smoggie created that email account for me on March 23, 2000. That was the day I told him that I was marrying Craigley! My new email id had a new family name. Smoggie knew, without a doubt, I would make that change.

When I did make the change officially 2 or 3 months later, my mother was disappointed. She thought she had raised a strong woman, and she didn’t understand why I felt the need to take on my then new husband’s family name! To be honest, I didn’t think that much about it.

Now that Craigley and I have been separated for almost 3 years, I have been asked that question again - are you changing your last name? Right now, the answer to that is “no”! My children and I share the same last name or family name. We are a team, with or without Craigley - so, this is like a team name.

Everything I have accomplished in the last 25 years has been with that team name. Ironically, the name of this blog was partially contributed by Craigley (although he is blissfully unaware of it).

When Smoggie created that email account for me, even before I married Craigley, he knew that I was serious about joining the new team and I was going to give it my all. And I did. The team is stronger than ever!