On Dec 1, 2005, I went to the notary and the courthouse and submitted my request. Today I got the Court Order: My name is now officially Chrystalline Dawn Lauryl.

I'm thrilled, excited, delighted, and a whole lot of other things. People who knew me by my birth name longer than a year are still entitled to call me by the old name, and I'm sure my brother's friends will, too, when they don't simply refer to me as “his sister”;)

I'm not telling my dad, so those of you who know him, please don't say anything inflammatory. He didn't take it well when I told him I was looking into the possibility, and I don't want to face the meltdown I'm sure will come if/when he finds out. It's my life and my name, but since I have to live with him right now, it would be very uncomfortable.

I have a lot of things to change now - driver's license, SSC, bank and credit card records, association memberships, mailing lists, web accounts, school records…

If I should meet a man who can convince me to give up the single life, I'm not going to change my name again - not even for him. That's a lot of stuff to update, and I won't do it twice.

But I'm loving the change:)