My Loss Of Identity-Personal Narrative

My dad was brought into the courtroom wearing an olive green jumpsuit and restrained by metal cuffs around his wrists. The judge sat high at his bench with his gavel set off to the side, and I, my mom, and my sister, remained as tall as we could attempting not to show the worry that was running through our minds.

The metal table felt cold as I rested my folded hands on top of it, which helped to offset my sweaty palms. As the hearing began I kept one eye on my father and the other on my sister, trying, in whatever way I could to be her protector. I listened back and forth as dad plead his case and my lawyer pled hers. And what was it all for? The six letters that now make up my last name. I wanted a new identity. I had a hard time coming to terms with this idea at first because it felt like I would somehow be different. Well, it turns out that I was right.

I sat in the courtroom, with the bright sun shining through the windows, and realized that I was becoming the family that stood by me when tough times hit. I wasn’t losing the past sixteen years of my life; I was just becoming more myself than I had ever been. I understand now that I am not a little kid anymore. I can speak for myself and I can believe for myself. I work hard to overcome any new challenge that arises because I remember what

it felt like to fight for my own name.
I look back on that day as a complicated knot that finally untangled itself.

It was all going to be okay. And the feeling that I experienced after finally becoming Maddison Reczko was when it all came down to it; nothing but determination. I am determined to face every adversity that comes my way. I am determined to do my best academically because I understand that a powerful mind equals a powerful person. I am determined to help as many people as I can through volunteer work in hopes that they will someday experience their knot untangle, as I have. The day I changed my name was the day I stopped allowing my past to define me and started to let my actions do the

talking.
I made the right decision in changing my name, but in the end my success in school, in my career, and in life has nothing to do with the letters written on the top of this paper. My success comes from that courtroom when I decided that no difficult situation was going to stop me. I am an adult. I am determined. And I am up for the challenge.