I Am...

prologue

Hi, the names Dani.. before you ask; no, it's not short for Danielle or Daniella.. my name has always been and always will be just Dani, unfortunately. My mother, Miranda, thinks she named me perfectly. A peculiar name for a peculiar girl.. I mean, my name isn't as outlandish as a girl named Sugar, or a boy named Alekzander the 3rd when in reality, there are no 'Alekzanders ' in his family, his father just wanted to give his son a cool, yet still weird, name.

But on my part, my name supposedly holds family value. My dad is Daniel Shannon Gilbert, his mother is Rhonda Darlene Gilbert, she goes by Darlene. My great grandmother was Dorothy Smith, may she rest in peace, and I think you get the jist here. I come from a long line of names starting with the letter 'D' .

This was precisely why my mother absolutely despised the fact that I planned to change my name the day I turned 18. Which was almost only one year away. For as long as I could remember, I had hated the name Dani; for one, it's never found on a cool keychain at a beach or on a mug in a gift shop at a museum. I mean honestly, how many girls do you know with just Dani for a name? It's normally short for something, am I right?? Would you like another reason? The name itself just sounds annoying; imagine how annoying the owner is led to be... even if they're not.

One last thing, no one can ever spell it right, "Danni, you are cordially invited"..... "Featuring local singer, Danny Gilbert". Yes, I'm being serious, both of them have ACTUALLY happened to me. I sometimes wondered why I couldn't have been born with a more common name like Hannah or Kylie or Amanda. So, the idea occurred to me in 8th grade, that when I was old enough, I would legally change my name.

Had I decided on what I would change it to? Absolutely not. Had I given any thought as to how weird it would be for my family and friends to call me a different name after 18 years of being known exclusively as Dani? Nope. All I knew was I wanted it to change for my own insecurities; of course this reasoning was deemed understandable at the time.

So, since the age of 14, I had been searching for a name. I didn't know exactly what it was I was searching for, I just knew that for whatever reason, I hated it my name. It absolutely had to change.

And that's exactly what I planned to do; change my name to fit me. But, along the way I found myself changing to fit the name I already had, this is a story in which self acceptance is achieved and insecurities are conquered.

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