Name Change

      I've been begging my mother for years to let me change my name from my father's to my mother's last name. Now, she's finally giving in. We received the directions to legally change it. The directions were very complicated, many steps seemed unnecessary and tedious, and it was agonizing to read them. When my mom called my aunt-who works at an attorney's office-she explained that it is a long, expensive, grueling process that involves tons of paperwork, my fingerprints being taken at my local police station and many more steps. Not only will the paperwork cost around three hundred and fifty dollars, I am also legally required to take out an advertisement in the newspaper announcing my name change, which will cost a large amount of money.
     Altogether, it will cost around eight hundred dollars. My mom has decided this will be my eighth grade graduation present and my fourteenth birthday present. Also, my mother and my father both have to sign permission forms. This last part is optional but if they don't sign, my mother, father and I will have to attend court which means my mom will have to pay for a lawyer, take off from work, etc.
      As if this isn't enough to make my head spin, I now have to worry about asking my father for his consent. We aren't very close and I haven't seen him in awhile. He still takes my little brother every other weekend but I have not had a relationship with him in about four or five years. I'm not sure about how he will react but my mother says he will most likely not go down without a fight.
         I've wanted to do this for so long and I'm even giving up a summer vacation to visit my cousins for this. My mom thinks it is a big deal, that it will change my life, and define my identity. But I think that it's simple; I'm closer with my mom and her family and I want to be an official part of that family, not only in person but on paper as well.
      I'm not close with my father or very close with his family, so why should I have their last name? I don't think this will be a topic that my father and I will agree on-so let the battle begin!