My Name

My name just came about because it was the name of the protagonist of a children’s book my mom was reading to my older sister, and Hayley pointed at the name “Ashley” and said “sister.” That’s how Ashley came to be.

However, my middle name has a little more meaning; it is my aunt’s name. When I was in middle school, I used to be ashamed of telling people my middle name. Why? I honestly do not know. But coming out of high school and into college, I wear my middle name like a badge of honor.

As I have gotten older, I have come to love my name more and more as I have been able to look at my aunt and admire her for who she is--a strong, single mother with a heart way more generous than her purse strings should allow. My aunt is the type of person who has always flown under the radar, never quite lived up to the precedent her older sister set, yet has found a way to be an impactful trail-blazer by the way she chooses to live her life. Having never been married, my aunt adopted my sister and me as her own kids. She is there for us like a sister, spoils us like a grandparent, and loves us as if she were our mother. My aunt is an advocate for the betterment of our family.

Even after she decided to adopt a little girl of her own, she has always proceeded with our family in mind, and she’s only brought the gap between generations in our family closer as she chose to give a stranger a forever family of her own.

I hope that I can live up to the name I have been given—a name picked by my family, after my family, and hopefully for my family.