End Of The Line

This train is at its last stop.
This blog is coming to an end.
If some of you are new to this blog, I'll share with you how it started.

I started this blog (creatingemmalee.blogspot.com) when I was 18. I was a freshman at Luther College (Go Norse!) and had just recently changed my name from Emily to Emmalee. I believe my second birth day (the day I changed my name) is October 21st 2008 but I sort of suck at details so that might not be right. What I am sure of is why this happened and what it meant and continues to mean to me. I am the daughter and grand-daughter of some amazing people. Among them are my two grandmothers, Audrey Emma Way and Nadean Rose Johnson. From these two powerful and strong women, my parents took their middle names and created my whole name, Emily Rose Johnson (Emily being based on Emma).

I came home from preschool one day excited to tell my mom that I had met someone with a name like mine; her name was Emma. My mom exposed her original plan to name me Emmalee after her mother, and I remembered that the rest of my life.

I was turning 18 in May of my senior year of high school. I was not really attending high school because I didn't really like it - I opted for nearly full time PSEO (taking college courses at Concordia University St. Paul instead of attending my high school). I was trying to decide where to go - Luther or St. Olaf? With so many questions and big things going on in my life, I wanted to do something strong and good for myself for my big adult birthday. I didn't want to gamble, smoke, or get a tattoo (typical activities when you turn 18...) but I DID want to legally change my name. I dragged my feet, unsure of how to go about it, but finally got my shit together during fall break of my freshman year.

I came home for a long weekend after being at school for 5 or 6 weeks and went to court to change my name. And then I made a blog.

I am continuously amazed by my mother and find myself being more and more like her every day. What was unfortunate is that my mom had an equally affectionate and close relationship with her mother who died when I was 10. I wanted to learn more about my grandmother and be more like her as I changed my name to honor her more. I wanted to embark on a journey of re-making myself in the image of those incredible women who went before me.

To be honest, I'm not really sure this blog did that, but I think that my focus and constant desire for knowledge and conversation about these women have helped make me the person I am today.

Now that all of that's spelled out, I'll share with you the reason I'm ending this blog.
I believe in constant growth and learning, but feel that I have reached a level of self knowledge and consistency that are beyond this blog. I've met my goal through these words. I've created myself, at least as much as I anticipated through these posts. I am on a new journey, a new mission.

And so, I begin a new blog.
(disclaimer, I'm not using this until I land in Seoul. So as I post this, there's nothing really to read there...)

http://emmaleeseoulo.blogspot.com/

Thanks for all the love, everyone.
I've enjoyed this journey and having you along.
I hope you'll come with me on my next journey :)
-Emmalee

Atypical

I haven't blogged in quite a while.
I feel like I owe you.

Thusly, I give you
How I Ended Up With 4 Different Passports Before I Turned 23

Passport #1
I was 16 years old, traveling to Italy with a girls choir. It happened.

Passport #2
In order to travel to Austria and Germany when I was 20, I had to get a new passport because I had changed my name legally when I turned 18.

Passport #3
At the age of 22, just after I graduated from Luther, I arrived in France and my passport was stolen. I got my third passport at 7 am at the US consulate in Paris. It was beautiful. sarcasm.

It was a temporary passport, meaning it was only valid for 3 months, which leads me to...

Passport #4
Once I arrived home, I applied for a real, non temporary passport with my new name AND I WILL HAVE IT UNTIL I'M 32, DAMNIT!


I knew you were all dying to know.
You're welcome.