Somehow, I've already gotten the hang of being called "Hoy (hey), Mrs. Abrigo!" by my cousins and friends ever since they started calling me that on our wedding day. I actually enjoy the reference. Feel na feel 'ko (I so can feel it)! I am Vincent Abrigo's wife. Hehehe. Not yet on my office nameplate though, among others.
Before we got married, Vincent once asked me whether or not I'm going to drop my maiden surname and adopt his. Being an open-minded person that he is, he was more than willing to offer me that choice, given the fact that there is no legitimate basis that a wife is obliged to take after her husband's name on marriage (Yes, there's none. Some wives who are aware of this have done it so, especially those women in the academe and well, celebrities, too), although this is ingrained in the Filipino culture. I told him that, legal, popular nor cultural, my heartfelt decision is to be Christine M. Abrigo. I would banter that sawang sawa na 'ko ulit-ulitin ang Manglal-lan sa mga taong hirap magbaybay o kaya sadyang may hearing defects (I'm so tired of saying Manglal-lan over and over again to people who have a hard time spelling it out or to those who simply have hearing defects). But really, I want to be his wife through and through. I have no issues with my identity. Being Mrs. Abrigo doesn't mean I'm a new human being all over again. That said, he just smiled and hugged me.
I'm being Mrs. Abrigo inch by inch. The first time I used my married name was when we applied for a home phone. I had a 10-second hesitation when I heard the technician yelling, "Tao po! Christine Abrigo! Bayantel po!" by our front door. "Ako pala 'yun (oh yeah, that's me)!", I thought to myself and grinned. Hehehe. At work, I've already changed my email ID, too. My supervisor admitted that when she first saw "CHRISTINE M. ABRIGO" on her inbox, she thought the name was familiar (she personally knows Vincent) but was not quick to pick up that it was actually me. Hahaha! The other day, one of my staff handed me a document to affirm and just as I was about to automatically sign in my old pen stroke, I noticed that he wrote down Christine M. Abrigo. It took me a few seconds to ink it using my new signature!
There's definitely a lot of long lines and bureaucracies waiting for me as I shift everything to Mrs. I'm not a fan of long lines and surely not of claustrophobia, but I will manage all of these for this heartfelt change ;-)
Before we got married, Vincent once asked me whether or not I'm going to drop my maiden surname and adopt his. Being an open-minded person that he is, he was more than willing to offer me that choice, given the fact that there is no legitimate basis that a wife is obliged to take after her husband's name on marriage (Yes, there's none. Some wives who are aware of this have done it so, especially those women in the academe and well, celebrities, too), although this is ingrained in the Filipino culture. I told him that, legal, popular nor cultural, my heartfelt decision is to be Christine M. Abrigo. I would banter that sawang sawa na 'ko ulit-ulitin ang Manglal-lan sa mga taong hirap magbaybay o kaya sadyang may hearing defects (I'm so tired of saying Manglal-lan over and over again to people who have a hard time spelling it out or to those who simply have hearing defects). But really, I want to be his wife through and through. I have no issues with my identity. Being Mrs. Abrigo doesn't mean I'm a new human being all over again. That said, he just smiled and hugged me.
I'm being Mrs. Abrigo inch by inch. The first time I used my married name was when we applied for a home phone. I had a 10-second hesitation when I heard the technician yelling, "Tao po! Christine Abrigo! Bayantel po!" by our front door. "Ako pala 'yun (oh yeah, that's me)!", I thought to myself and grinned. Hehehe. At work, I've already changed my email ID, too. My supervisor admitted that when she first saw "CHRISTINE M. ABRIGO" on her inbox, she thought the name was familiar (she personally knows Vincent) but was not quick to pick up that it was actually me. Hahaha! The other day, one of my staff handed me a document to affirm and just as I was about to automatically sign in my old pen stroke, I noticed that he wrote down Christine M. Abrigo. It took me a few seconds to ink it using my new signature!
There's definitely a lot of long lines and bureaucracies waiting for me as I shift everything to Mrs. I'm not a fan of long lines and surely not of claustrophobia, but I will manage all of these for this heartfelt change ;-)