For 27 years I carried those 34 letters like a millstone around my neck.
As early as Kindergarten I began calling myself Kat and later reduced my legal signature to a terse illegible scrawl.
I once broke up with a boyfriend because I didn’t want to take a chance on getting stuck with his 11-letter last name, Hendrickson.
Then I met Alejandro Guillermo Sebastian De la Santos and fell in love.
We named our first son, Luis Ramon.
Luis calls me Mama.
Alejandro calls me Katerina.
No one calls me Kat, anymore.