A rose by any other name....or something like that

You would think a girl would be dying to change her last name...well especially if your last name is or I guess was, Hussey.

You name it, I've heard it.

Even in the third grade I remember teachers or others snickering, or trying to make it what it's not. There's no ampersand or no, it's not french.

The best was Coach Rumsfield in highschool, you know the coach that also has to teach a class, I think he taught geography or something. Anyway, he would get so embarrassed when it came to roll call. Because he was a coach, he would address EVERYONE in the room by their last name. Of course, when he got down the list to the Hs, "Aubrey?" he would say.

Wal-mart has even started, if you write a check, addressing you by your last name.

"Thank you, Ms.....Hu..say..<>". And even up to when I voted earlier this year, I got, " Hussey? I bet you never get teased about that, do ya?"

No. Never. You are sooo original.

But now I am changing my last name. I get to drop the teasing and giggling everytime I meet someone new.

It's kinda sad. I feel like I'm mourning a part of me, a part of me that has been with me for thirty, thirty something years.

For whatever the reason, if someone knew my name they rarely forgot it. I think it really did build character....had to be tough to stand in front of your peers and say it with pride.

Even now people occasionally come and ask if I'm related to Harry or Chelsie because the name stands out, it's not a common name, so we must all be related. But it is kinda neat to know there are others out there.

Another thing, there are no boys in our family to carry it on. Layne is the only one of my generation with the name...and something tells me she may be changing hers soon as well.

Speaking of, on one hand it's not as if any of us have changed for the "better".

Bernardi, Hattenbach, Barnicle, and Huckaby...

(I'm smiling right now with a tear in my eye.)

So, farewell, Hussey. I will miss you.