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I Have A Brand New Name

Hey World,

While I am now weeks & weeks behind my marriage posts (they'll come slowly but surely, I promise!), I am just on time to share a bit more about settling into my new name!

If you haven't changed your name before...well, I'll let you in on a little secret:
  It's weird. 
Like, really weird. 

And for at least a month (and the foreseeable future), you're kind of in limbo of being called something new in some circumstances, and still being your old name in some circumstances. 

The only other time I've felt like this is when I looked in the mirror for the first weeks after I dyed my hair dark back in college. I remember every time I looked at the reflection, I could only give the Donald Trump NO! to the reflection I hardly recognized. Me? Brunette? Never! Then it hit me, no...I was brunette! AND to boot -- I chose it myself! 

Getting married and changing your name is more of an eventual shedding, while still hearing both names and saying somewhat-confidently "Wait, that's me!!"...but with a delayed response.

 First, you'll change your name on the marriage license, but it doesn't get processed until after you're pronounced husband and wife, and introduced to dozens, if not hundreds, of your wedding guests. Technically, your new name starts now!

Signing my new name for our marriage license! 

Then, you'll change your Facebook name (duh), and people will invariably contact you asking how they know you, and you'll have to say you just got married, and then they'll all respond "OMG! It didn't even register!" and (unluckily) don't unfriend you. Within the first week, this happened to me three times!

Then, you'll submit your documents to change your Social Security Card, which you'll soon find out is the Holy Grail of all things name-changing. Only after you get that card can you begin changing your drivers license, your credit cards, and every other thing that's printed with your name on it. I'm telling you...it's a process.

(( Luckily, there's HitchswitchIf you have a printer, a confusion on how to change your name, and a love for putting things into the mail -- this website is for you! It will be worth every single dollar of their $29 package, and save you hours of second-guessing your sanity & ability to fill out government forms. This will now be my go-to gift to all of my female BFFs as soon as they get engaged! ))

At work, you'll ask to change your email address, and all of your work login accounts, and you'll get confused if the password will be the same, or different, and you'll realize you really shouldn't have so many different passwords everywhere, because you're quickly getting locked out of everything! Eventually, you'll figure it out. Eventually...

Finally trying out my new name at work! 

Meanwhile, as you dance all across the world wide web, you'll realize that your 18-year-old self clearly never expected to get married, because she used your last name on absolutely everything (who was that girl anyways!?). You also realize that this whole "name change" thing is going to take you at least a year to really align on...(and that there's really no reason for you to have a Nordstrom Rack online account when you've literally never bought anything from there...so you also have to delete online accounts too :)

You also -- for the first time -- now realize you are not the only person with your new initials &/or your new name. This means you are, in fact, now very late to the online name game, and everything simple is taken (MarisaGrimes, not the first). This will only further delay much of your social media changes, until you manage to come up with something somewhat clever, somewhat you, and 100% not-yet-taken (I'm still taking ideas!!).

But aside from all of the craziness, you get to share a name (!) with your life partner in crime, and hopefully, all the future little ones who will be joining #TeamGrimes later down the line. That's surely worth every headache and form :)

Now, I'm off to practice writing pretty Gs.

xoxo,

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