DELAYED GRATIFICATION

Remember when I wrote about surprises? And then I posted about Ben's...

Well I never got around to revealing my surprise. So here it is:

CONFUSED? READ ON:

I have it upon good sources (see below)
that the first wedding anniversary is represented by PAPER.


So, after one year, I decided it was appropriate that I officially change my name on PAPER.
(I was Knudsen to him, and Sister Knudsen at church, but I had nothing official.)
You may recall that changing Juárez was kind of an issue for me.
But I also am very in favor of taking on Ben's name and all that it represents.

Also, I thought it meant lots to him. One of my favorite memories during our engagement was coming to visit at his house while he did stuff on the computer. He casually mentioned,
"It really hit me today when I put your future name into the honeymoon travel plans. I thought—she's taking on my name. That's kind of big."

(quoted to the best of my recollection)

So, enough excuses about school being more simple if I kept Juárez. I set to work.
(But in order to keep it secret, I did it on my breaks from my "real work"):

First, I had to acquire a new Marriage License because I don't recall ever seeing our first one. Good for me, the County Courthouse was between my work and my house at the time.

(had fun running into cousin Katie there who was changing her name!)

Second, I had to wait in line at Social Security where my mom works. But due to security, she couldn't hook me up so I ate lunch while I waited for my number to be called just like everyone else. However, Mom did witness me sign my new name for the first official time.

Then I could change my name on my Driver License.
This worked out because I needed a new license for scooter-riding anyway.
So a few lunch breaks involved trips to DMV, written/driving tests, safety & emissions tests, etc.
Sadly, they had to take a new picture and they didn't let me keep
my old license with the picture I loved so much.
(Photo shows a Traffic Ticket instead of my license because they'd kept my permit by accident at the DMV.
That's right: A day after getting my scooter license, I got a warning ticket a block away from my house for not coming to a complete stop at a right-turn red light...)

With my new Social Security card, I could officially change my name at BYU.
I needed a new ID there anyway because they were making everyone change.
I was ready for that new picture though. ;)

My bank made it easy. Somehow I could walk in with my documents
and they could give me a new debit and credit card on the spot.

Nu Skin was easy too. No new picture needed, just documents to HR,
then a swap for a new badge, and the IT people set up my new Knudsen work email in a jiffy.

- AND, JUST LIKE THAT, I WAS KNUDSEN ON EVERY PAPER. -

On the night before our Road Trip, I sat on the floor to put it all together as you've seen above.
I also included the classic married-name-signature-practice, a photo from our beginning
(and ticket stub from our first August 5: the Beck concert in 2002),
and a photo from our eternal beginning...


The names in black stickers on the "file cards" are various names (some nicknames) for me.
The last name shown above is the noteworthy new one... The box to contain it all was a cheap ebay order in reference to a desk he made in high school with a similar roll-back cover. Papá helped me spray paint it and Maya lent me some nail polish to decorate.

I wrapped it up and Ben opened it that night in Vernal. Suffice it to say I enjoyed making it a lot more than he enjoyed receiving it. He just said he didn't care much if I didn't change my name.

;)

Oh, well. It sure made for a good-n-long blog post.