Coming Out of The Closet

Okay Bloggies,

Here's the deal. I've thought about this, and I've thought about this, and when I thought I was done thinking, I thunk some more. Now, at first I thought I could go about this one of two ways. I could tell you my real name and what that means to me and how that's shaped me as a person (per MamaKat's Writer's Workshop Prompt) or I could do the same thing except explain why I use Cinderella.

And then it occured to me.

Why not do both?

So we'll start with Natalie. Because that's my name. It is of Latin origin (Latin, not Latino. you know, it's that language that everyone says is dead) and it means "Birthday of Christ" which I always found slightly hilarious because my birthday is no where near Christmas time.

However, it kind of makes sense. Think about it: Natalie vs Nativity.

I remember when I was little I wished I spelled it different than the original n-a-t-a-l-i-e. There are a few ways - my favorites being Nathalie and Natalee. But now that I'm older, I like how my name is spelled. It's traditional. I'm kind of traditional. Occasionally. When it suits me. You know.

My mom didn't want to name me Natalie at first. Mostly because the common nick name for Natalie is Nat, which has the unfortunate coincidence of sharing the same sound as an annoying bug. The gnat. So I was deemed NatBug before I was even born.

And then there's Dawn. Which is my middle name. And I've only met one other Natalie Dawn in my life. You can find her here and I love her because she's an awesome photographer. Seriously.

I'd like to believe the story about my middle name being Dawn because I was born at 5:13 in morning after my mother had been in labor all night. I was an indecisive child. Couldn't really decide whether or not I wanted to be borned. And since then, indecision may or may not still be a problem in my life....

It wasn't until after I was already birthed and named that we realized there are a few other members of my extended family with Dawn as a middle name. So I got a family name and didn't even realize it.

Okay, so now that I feel like I've completely violated my anonymity, let's go into how I came up with calling myself Cinderella.

When I first started blogging, I had nothing to go off as to what I would call myself. My awesome aunt, who was my inspiration for starting a blog simply referred to herself as "C" so I followed suite.

But calling people by their initials can get confusing. Especially because DP and Prince Charming are both M names, so that would get messed up fast. I resorted to giving people code names on TheBlog, which has so far worked out to my advantage. And to help you all keep things strait there is a Cast of Characters list in the sidebar.

But I digress.

When I was younger, my dad called me Rindercella. I complained about chores. A lot. But I knew I didn't really have it half as bad as Cinderella, who is coincidentally my favorite Disney Princess. Mostly because she goes from rags to riches and wears an awesome blue ballgown that I absolutely adore. My senior ball prom dress was Cinderella inspired. I'm just saying. Here's a picture:


So you see, I just had to go with Cinderella because I wasn't sure about going by Natalie. But I see a lot of bloggers use their name, but keep everyone else's a secret. Which is what I intend to do, unless told otherwise.


**Writer's Note: My dear mother just texted me that I, little ole me, has made the Dean's List!! Can I get a What? What? I've NEVER made the Dean's list....**