Just Monica Was More Than Enough

I put it off for two years. Not because it was hard. But because it meant becoming someone I'd never been before. Just Monica. And I didn't know if I knew how to be her yet.

Last summer, I walked into a courthouse and did something I’d been putting off for two years. I legally changed my name from Monica Hebert-Dawson back to Monica Hebert.

I thought I’d feel free immediately. Lighter. Celebratory. Like I’d just shed a weight I’d been carrying for decades.

Instead, I sat on the courthouse steps and cried.

Not because I regrett…