In London, wherever I went, I was Mrs. Levine. At first I thought that my mother-in-law had booked reservations for things under the family name, and then that places assumed my first name went with their last name. For instance, when the taxi picked us up from the airport, the driver’s sign said, “Mr. & Mrs. Levine.”

Then at the spa, where the whole family got massages in honor of my mother-in-law’s 60th birthday, my locker key had a piece of paper wrapped around it with “Mrs. Levine” written on it.

Then at a cooking lesson with her girlfriends my name tag, pasted to my apron, just above my chest, also said Mrs. Levine. I kind of liked it. It was a little like my blogging pseudonym had come to life, had sought me out, and fashioned me into a quaint, little London housewife lounging at spas and taking high tea and cookery lessons. But then I realized what was happening.

My mother-in-law was embarrassed that I kept my maiden name. I tried to hide it from her for years. I did intend to take their name. My very first blog post was about this. She realized it this past year, though, when my she saw that my Facebook page has my maiden name and so does my passport. I never became, officially, a Levine.

And now I’m asking myself, Why not? In just two more years, my husband and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary. Maybe then I’ll change my name. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, since I saw how embarrassed it made my mother-in-law that I kept my name. My books, if by the grace of god they’re published, will have my maiden name. That I have decided. But maybe it’s getting close to time that my pseudonym is actually my maiden name and my married name is my real name. Just maybe.

Secret Forty-Six, Revealed. It doesn’t scare me as much any more, not like it used to. I can be Mrs. Levine and I’m beginning to think I just might be.

(Source: anotherdayofcrazy.blogspot.com)