your john hancock

This past fall, we painted a chalkboard wall in our kitchen.  I really was not expecting it to be the huge hit that it was.  Because of this magical chalkboard, Henry went from being able to write "H" to being able to write out his full first name in one day.  

Around that time, we also refinanced our house.  This required that Matthew and I sit down and sign our names to who knows how many papers, a process which took at least a half hour.

And I realized that the only time I really sign my full name anymore - actually writing out my 'signature' by hand - is when people want my money!

Which is sad to me because I remember spending a lot of time perfecting my signature.  Our names are the very first personal identifiers that we have.   My own name was also the first complete word that I learned to write.  I still remember the day that I leaned to write my first name.  My mom was so proud of me and I was proud of myself.  I eagerly waited at the kitchen table for my dad to get home from work so I could show him.  Once my penmanship improved and I tackled my whole name, I carefully practiced in my journal how I would sign my name.  I emphasized the first letters of each of my three names decided to write them in fancy cursive.  Then, in high school, I decided to change things up. I decided to use lower case first letters because of how my Grandma Kimber wrote our last name.  Her 'g' was lower case, but larger than the other letters. In college, I got married and I had to change my signature again.  I even polled friends this time.  I remember sitting at the Macaroni Grill in Provo with a dear friend and writing out each of the options I was looking at.  

To me, the way that I wrote my name meant something.  It was my personal brand and I felt like it communicated something about me.

These days, my signature goes on official documents at work.  But it's actually an electronic signature that the Word Processing Department usually adds for me.  I sign my name to cards and letters that I mail out.  But, it's usually just my first name.

I think that signatures are significant, and not just a legal necessity.  It really was thrilling to me when Henry mastered his first name.  I love his name and felt like it was one step toward him taking it on fully for himself, instead of just being the identifier that we gave to him.