I was an odd child. I remember occasionally deciding that I would go by a different name. Before I started school I was always Katy. But after watching a few episodes of The Get-Along Gang, I decided Montgomery was a better name. So for a short period of time when I was about 4 years old, I only answered to Montgomery. In Mrs. Taylor's second grade class at Taylor Elementary, we did a unit on Native Americans, and each child got to select an Indian name to be called by during this unit. I chose Mrs. Miagi. Hmmm...I don't think there were any Miagis in the American Indian tribes; nevertheless that was the name I wanted to be called. I'm sure it had something to do with my infatuation with the Karate Kid and Ralph Macchio. Why didn't I choose Mrs. Macchio? Or, like everyone else in my class, Running Bull or Pocahontas? Later on during my second grade year, I decided to start going by my first name, Emily. I guess after the whole Montgomery Miagi thing I just wasn't ready to go back to Kate. So I started signing Emily Pierson on all my papers.
Somewhere along the years I decided that Kate was a suitable name. I'm thankful that my parents didn't name me Montgomery or Miagi, and that they didn't follow the advice of my older sister and name me Buffalo Tae.
Even though I'm past the name-changing thing, there is still a part of me that periodically wants to recreate myself or the things around me. Get a new haircut, rearrange the furniture, paint the (fill in the blank) a different color, reorganize my closet, etc. This time of year when the seasons are beginning to change gradually from summer to cooler fall days gets me in the mood to change something. The question is, What?
