One Month from Today...

I'll be Mrs. Allyson Clark ... and I'll have to say it without laughing afterwards!

But isn't that strange? You go 25 years having the same name and within an hour, you have a different last name.

I was definitely in 'crying my eyes out' mode on the ride home from Sedan to Wichita today thinking about this (this is why I enjoy car rides by myself -- I could never have hysterical crying fits with someone else in the car!)! And I wasn't crying my eyes out because I'm not happy or not proud about being a Clark -- its a pretty great family and I'm very excited to be apart of it!

It just seems a bit surreal to me. And I guess a bit scary.

I have loved being Allyson Jane Hills. I mean, I can't really see myself with any other name -- my parents had pondered Amber. My uncle Blish said he'd pay for my college education if my parents named me Blish (poor guy didn't want to be a loner the rest of his life!). But they stuck me with Allyson - and only with a 'y' because my dad spelled it wrong on the birth certificate. Go figure! :)

Since my freshman year in college, my nickname became my last name -- it started with Matt's basketball teammates not understanding that there was an 's' at the end of my name. To try to get it through their very thick skulls that it was "Hills", I told them it was 'Hills... like with a z at the end." So I was "Hills with a Z" for awhile... Then Matt started calling me Hills. Then the rest of his buddies started calling me Hills. Then my friends started calling me Hills. It's just kind of stuck...

I think the biggest thing with me is that I hate change. I like things the way they are and really try to keep them the same as possible at all costs. The name change is a pretty drastic leap, though! When my cousin-in-law (heard of that one before?!) got married to my cousin Seth, she went from a Jozwiak to a Barnes... that's quite a change! Rumor has it the first time she had to sign her name Barnes, she cried. Though I find being a Barnes a pretty delightful thought, I completely understand where she is coming from now!

A name is just a name. It does not define who you are, this I know. But I will always be a Hills... And hope that, if anything, my nickname doesn't change!