Today’s word of the day from the Daily Word website is “Relax”. Ahh… right now, I am so grateful to my student affairs professional organization. This week was our board transitional meeting and we met in San Diego. I am serving as the President Elect, so it was great to catch up with my fellow community college student affairs professionals and plan out this coming year. This mini break was also a mini vacation for me. Any chance I got, I recruited a fellow board member and went for a walk on the Waterfront. Loved it! Even if it was only 30 minutes, I loved walking and looking out on to the San Diego Bay. Thanks CCCSAA for a great trip!
My favorite ways to relax
- Reading a novel-I am currently reading this fun murder mystery called “I Heard that Song Before” by Mary Higgins Clark
By midnight tonight, the NASCAR 18 wheelers will be heading West. I love NASCAR week. If you ask anyone at my work in the days leading up to the big NASCAR weekend, I’m pretty much telling people to watch where they go next weekend…cause the roads will be packed! Sonoma County only has 2 lane roads leading to the track. This year, my sister will be attending her first NASCAR race. In our family, she is the die hard IRL fan..while I have been known for switching to the dark side towards NASCAR. But like I tell anyone who attends a NASCAR race at Infineon Raceway…you too will be turned.
Get ready Sonoma County…the big bad boys of the South are on their way…
Today, I officially changed my name. Matthias and I have been married for about 8 months now. As crazy as it sounds, I finally found today to drive to the Social Security Office and change my name. The process itself did not take very long and it was free. The girls entering in my data hardly said anything to me. I couldn’t help myself but see if they were wearing a wedding ring. Could they relate to what I was doing or feeling?
I wonder if deep down inside every new bride, the part that really scares them isn’t if the wedding pictures will come out or if they could live with their husband. I think its changing their name. I often share with Matthias, that when men get married, the biggest change they experience is wearing the ring. For women, it’s wearing a ring AND physically having to change their name. In away, getting married is a huge identity shift.
Over the last few months, I added Worch to my email signature, changed my name tag and even had the students add Worch to the ASB agenda. But, I had not made the journey to officially change my name until today. Why did I wait to so long? This afternoon, when I told my Dad, I could tell in his voice he was a bit sad. I had been carrying his name for over 30 years. Changing my name made it seem for real. I couldn’t let go completely so I decided to change my middle name from Diane to Estrella.
There will probably be many more significant changes along the road that bring Matthias and I closer but for today, it was taking his name.
My initials are now VW. So look out Volkswagen, my next car might just be one of yours.
I am on vacation. Yahoo! The last time I had a week off was Spring Break. I am soo ready to relax and at the same time..I am a little sentimental. For the last three summers, this would be the week I would be at APU. Miss ya ladies. To keep the spirit of APU going, I’m planning to host a conference call within these two weeks.