A New Name

Changing your name is not an easy process. It all starts the moment you get engaged.  You begin begin to plan the wedding.  You experience an extreme range of emotion as you say your 'I do's' and exchange vows. You go on a honeymoon, open wedding gifts, write 7,000 thank you notes, and begin to think about starting your new life together.  

 For me, starting a new life meant moving ten hours from my beloved home, beginning a new job, and learning to cook for a party of two instead of one... and changing my name.  

 Growing up with a commonly mispronounced last name, I had dreams of one day meeting a man whose last name would solve all my problems.  However, I ended up falling in love with a Brazilian whose last name's Portuguese roots trick up even the most skilled linguist. So it is here that our story begins.

 de Araujo, pronounced D-ah-da-oo-jshoo.  To all our friends, (some) family, our colleagues, and my second grade students we are Mr. and Mrs. Eric and Chelsea D.

This is the story of our life together.