I took my wife's last name
You'd think it's a small sacrifice to make at the altar, but few people - especially relatives - understand
Josiah Neufeld
The official at the drivers' licence office squinted at me suspiciously, examined for a second time my birth certificate and marriage licence, and repeated, "You want to change your last name to your wife's?"
"Usually it's the other way around."
He consulted the form on his screen and said slowly, as much to himself as to anyone, "Yes ... you can do that."
Of all the independences one sacrifices at the altar, a name might seem like a small one. Women have been leaving theirs there for centuries.
I did it because any form of power comes with duties. I'm obliged to take responsibility for my power, to learn its effects - even unintentional ones - to see what it does to others when I'm not watching, to use it in the best way possible. Sometimes to relinquish it.
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Any other lads out there who left their name at the alter?
clipped from www.theglobeandmail.com
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