Tuesday 26 June 2012

Never throughout history has a person who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.


Today I got my name legally changed. I am now officially Kaye Eugene. 

It took a lot of thought; I was torn between keeping my initials the same KE (which I chose in the end) or having my initials as KT so that if someone dropped the birth-name-bomb (Katie) I could claim it was a shortened version of Kaye Tony. However, I felt that Tony didn’t really suit me, but Eugene did even though it is quite a quirky and old fashioned name, because in some ways I too am quite quirky and old fashioned. 

Mum was brilliant about it and toasted me at dinner. Dad wouldn’t even look at me and made a disparaging noise in his throat – I guess he has a long way to go to accept this but the problem is he won’t admit that he isn’t 100% happy with it. Whenever I try to talk to him about it, all I get is this fake bravo about how fine he is with it. My sister also disapproves and said I would regret it. I think both of them really dislike my middle name, and think I am calling myself Eugene after Gene Hunt. This isn’t the case, I looked through a whole list of names beginning with E and Eugene was the one I liked the most and that sounded good with my first name. I am happy with the name so I will not let their attitude bother me too much, having my Mums support makes all the difference and I am of the age where I don't need my families approval to do something (although it would be nice).

Kaye means happy and Eugene means born lucky/well. I guess that is true, I am now very happy to have a name that fits me and I have been born lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive Mum and to have such a good life. As cheesy as it sounds I do honestly believe that, it is easy to get caught up in all the bad and difficult things and forget to realise how lucky I am to live the life I have.

Cheers from my Mum and I

Wednesday 13 June 2012

What is in a name?


I have an appointment booked with the solicitor to get a change of name, however my problem is that I have yet to decide upon a name.

My birth name was very posh, I was named after two grandparents with exceedingly British names and I will be keeping my initials the same (K.E.M). Trying to keep the middle name as posh as my birth middle name I think I will be going for Eugene. 

However,  I have more of a problem with the first. There is nothing that is posh that can be shortened to Kaye. My parents made a big deal about both my sister’s and my name having a posh long version and a shortened nickname, which makes sense.

The options so far are:

  • Kayden – sounds a bit chavy and is very masculine (not something I am overly keen on) and is a very modern name, it wasn’t popular when I was a baby.

  • Kaye – short and not posh but it is my name

  • Kaelan – gender neutral which is good but it doesn’t feel like me, but then neither does Kayden or my birth name. 

Maybe I should just keep it to Kaye and then if in the future I feel that not having a posher name is holding me back in life I could change it again. 

I just wish I had someone to talk to who knew more about this kind of thing.

Tuesday 12 June 2012

In memory of Smokey Joe; a truly fantastic cat.


Today my cat, Smokey Joe, had to be put to sleep, so I would like to take the time to dedicate this small part of the internet to him.



This is the first picture we have of him. He was a stray kitten when he turned up on our door step looking for a home. After some gentle persuaison with Dad (just let him have some milk….and maybe some food….and maybe a bed for the night…okay forever) he became part of the family and always will be.



This is him derp facing. We grew up together, he was a kitten when my sister was only a few months old and he grew old while we grew up.



He was always my special little buddy and would walk me halfway to school (untill we got to the road) and be there to walk me back at the end of the day.



This is my favourite picture of me and him. We always had time for a cuddle and I always felt safe having him guard me in my sleep. The cuddle tradition never changed, even as I grew up, -I would come home from university every weekend and he’d come into the house to sit on the sofa with me and watch comedy programs.




Here he is pretending to be one of my stuffed toys, I hope we gave him the best life possible, I assume we did, if cats don’t like you they leave and he stayed with us for 17 1/2 years. He was loved by everyone, even the dogs. Millie the eldest dog was so distressed when she saw that he was no longer with us she lay beside him trembling. He was the boss of all the dogs and used them as body guards. When a particulary nasty ginger tom moved into the neighbour hood and chased him, he ran straight to our garden and straight into our dogs who let Smokey past and chased the other cat away.




I think he would like me to mention that he was also a fantastic hunter and a BAMF. He brought home many kills, and had a particular knack for getting rare and protected species, as you can imagine this didn’t always go down too well with a house hold full of vegetarian animal lovers. But I think he would like me to mention it, he was a brave, bold adventurer who survived many fights often with cats, once with a car. He nearly died after being run over when he was only a few years old and I am so glad that he got to spend so many more years with us.




Here is me and my sister now with him. He was always too interested in cameras to get a good photo of easily, so we sneak attacked him with this camera when he was having a lay down.




I started this post with the first picture we have of him and so I will end it with the last picture I have of him. This was taken this morning, before we had our final goodbye. It was a difficult decision to make, but the right one.

So heres to you Smokey, I love you and hope I made your life a happy one, all my love to long ago.