Rose

I grew up in a home that was fairly rich in culture and ridiculously strict with traditions. No one would dare challenge some of the idiocracies threaded into years of passed down rules... such as name everyone the same name...?
My grandmother is Maddalena Guastella and my grandfather is Salvatore Cirignotta. My sister is Maddalena, my bother Salvatore, my cousin is named Salvatore, and my other cousin is Salvatore, and my uncle is Salvatore and my friend down the street is Salvatore because his grandfather was Salvatore; but getting back to family, the Maddalenas do just as good of a job of decorating the town.
This is such a powerful tradition that my grandfather cried when he heard my American(Jewish) mother did not want to name her son Salvatore; a reasonable wish, wouldn't you say?

Because my siblings had forced names, my mother decided to withhold middle names from all of us, just to be fair, obviously.
I shouldn't be too upset about the fact that I'm middlenameless because I am the only child in my family with a completely original name. Yet when you are a 9 year old fourth grader who has already been named the class misfit going to school on "Call yourself by your Middle Name day" becomes so much more frustrating. It becomes yet another thing you have to do to explain your unaccepted differences.
And that marks the day that I started making them up. Elissa Rosalia, Elissa Rosella, Elissa Marie, and Elissa Rosanna were among the most common. I had a strange fascination with the Rose+combo and would often rotate through them.


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It's been a while since I have adopted a new middle name.
Roses have recently become a significant part of my life. This evening after another magical evening on the porch with beautiful souls I decided that in this new phase of my life I will give myself the middle name Rose, simply.