"okay, grab a piece on construction paper and fold it in half", my teacher said. "now, with the border facing you, write one of your names in bubble letters like this", he said as he showed the visual learners like myself what the heck he was talking about. "now, with the paper still folded, cut your name out, and then unfold the paper. voila - a monster for you to decorate!"

i'll have you know that i had the biggest and baddest constructo-monster ever to step foot in that classroom. so you can imagine my disappointment when i found out what i'm about to share with you when i brought my artwork home that night.

my parents loved my craft and beamed with pride at their personal picasso, after all, this piece was clearly refrigerator worthy.

"that's great, hunny", my dad said, "but who's elizabella?"

"daddddd", i said in a playful tone. "that's my middle name"

he looked at mom. she looked at me.

"what?" i asked, confused.

"your middle name is isabella, not elizabella"

my heart sank. it was as if my whole "mom and dad are such good compromisers that they took their two favourite names and made one name instead of fighting over it or hyphenating both" theory was no longer accurate.

that, and i was embarrassed, and a little ticked that my artwork took longer than it needed to seeing as how elizabella was two letters longer than my newfound middle name.

suffice it to say, i never forgot it again. in part because this whole grade four craft thing left me traumatized; in another, because my parents came up with a little jingle to ensure that i never forgot it again. [i can hear it ringing in my ears even now, "is-a-bell-a necessary for a bicycle?"].

this got me thinking, though. how many of us are walking around with names that we aren't meant to walk around with? labels that we have accepted from others, or ones we have adopted ourselves?

for you, it may be ugly, or fat. maybe you've been called stupid or useless, or have been told you won't amount to anything and walk around as if whoever said that to you was right. whatever it is, whatever false names/labels/identities you've believed about yourself for whatever reason, it's time to exchange your elizabella for your isabella and start believing the truth.