Well you know you’ve reached celebrity when you start pissing people off. Apparently my blog is that good, as Joey and I have begun receiving complaints regarding its title. As indicated in the “About Me” section located to the right of my postings, I may not have taken his last name but I am going to follow him to whatever corner of the earth the State Dept decides to send him. I have always considered myself a strong, independent woman. I felt when I got married that I would be losing a big part of myself by changing my last name, and so with the support of Joey, I decided to stay Melissa Soda. The fact that my last name is not Cordaro has nothing to do with any preferences for or against that name, and feelings for or against that family, or any other negative connotations. I proudly say that my last name is not Cordaro because its Soda. My dad didn’t have any boys, and even though he has encouraged, even pressured me to take my husband’s last name, I like that I’m carrying on Soda. As Bill can attest from our debate this weekend (after he mistakenly asked what our childrens’ last names will be), my last name is not Cordaro because I am a Soda girl through and through. After 23 years of Soda I’m just supposed to write it off because I got married? Transferred from one man to another? Take his last name because I’m his property now? Why couldn’t he take my last name? If it’s about family unity then why does it matter what the last name is as long as it’s the same? Joey didn’t change his name for the same reason I didn’t change mine – he’s proud of it. Just like I’m proud of mine. And so when people assume that just because I got married I changed my last name, it frustrates me. Probably in the same way Joey is frustrated when I make room reservations and he is then addressed throughout our stay as “Mr. Soda.” So I believe my blog, which I write to address the daily trials, tribulations and triumphs of moving and marriage and life, be it in Des Moines or DC or Djibouti, is appropriately titled, as from the very beginning you can tell its written from my perspective. And if my perspective is something you find offensive, you don’t have to read it. Joey’s blog is http://travelingpack.blogspot.com and his is far less opinionated (and entertaining, but that’s just my opinion…)