Identity Crisis

I was going through some old papers last night and found the hospital tag from when I was born. Right there, on the first line, it says "baby girl" and then my last name. (Ha! You thought you were going to find out what it was, huh?!) Just that simple "baby girl" brought back memories and a smile to my face. No, not memories of when I was born (although I do have memories from when I was less than one year old!) No...it brought back memories of when I applied for my first passport...4 decades later! Sweetie was working in Europe and Daughters #1 and #2 were going over with me for a month long stay. I went to the "State Department of Important Papers That We Will Charge You For" to get my certified birth certificate. They called me to the window and said...ummm, there's a problem. What? I wasn't really born? This is all some random computer simulation in Keanu Reeves mind? Nope! It was simply that...I had NO NAME! Yup...Mom and Dad had filled out some piece of paper at the hospital long ago but hadn't done anything about letting the State (Official Holder of All Documents) know who I was going to be! In order to amend the certificate, I had to find two people that knew me and have them sign a document and then have it notarized!...and those two people knew me by my name...which technically didn't exist, so who did they really know?...this is where we get into the "if a tree falls in the forest" kind of brain warp! Dad, of course, was sure that he had filled in all proper papers...but I had to give him "grief" over this too...Why didn't he love me enough to name me? Was he thinking about sending me back? And since I hadn't had a name for 40 years could I now pick my own? Since I had been just "baby girl" all these years did that mean that my school records didn't matter? (Thank goodness!) or my driver's license...or my marriage certificates...deeds to my house...insurance policies...magazine subscriptions? So who I was for the first 40 years of my life was not who I've been since! Man...it's enough to give me an identity crisis!