Kirk and I were married in New York last Friday 8/20/12. Of course, we were married (as far as we are concerned) on 1/11/00 by the good Rev. Michael Carter, but it’s nice (and was surprisingly affecting) to have the paperwork.

One of the questions on the form was “last name”. We had 4 options: keep our names; take Lawrence or Howard; mush them together (Laward? Howrence?); or hyphenate. After much discussion, or rather, a couple of intense minutes, we decided on the hyphen.

I didn’t want Laward, pronounced “lard”, that’s for sure.

Kirk’s very good point was that a statement should be made. Agreed. I’m not a fan of the hyphen, at all, but I went along. My contribution was the order; I liked the sound and flow of Lawrence-Howard, although it means I am further along in a-to-z lines.

Now i just have to sort out the name change issue on official paperwork. I should know more, but I’ve decided to just bumble along with it higgeldy-piggeldy and see how it works out. First stop is Social Security, which seems to be straightforward. After that, the passport. From there, who knows. Drivers license for pennsylvania, I suppose.

Fasten your seat belts, as ms. Davis said. This part could get bumpy and interesting.