I need a name

I've been thinking a lot about the poetry of our lives: That timeless ebb and flow of our days changing into nights and back into days. So often we get caught up in all the things we "have to do" and we forget to step back, relax, and smell the bread baking or the hyacinths in bloom.

I love to bake, but haven't done much of it lately. Part of that is because I'm afraid to try gluten free recipes (what if they fail miserably?), and part of that is that I have been so busy during my week that I just want to relax on the weekend and not "have to do" anything. Except maybe laundry.

Clean underpinnings are a good thing.

Someone once asked me what name I would have were my current one to flee, and I had a hard time choosing one. I think I finally settled on "ginger" thinking both of the spiky white fragrant flowers on those Hawaiian trees that I love to adorn my hair, and of the spicy seasoning that can play either naughty or nice (triple ginger chocolate cake versus a relatively sedate stir fry). I'm not so sure Ginger suits me anymore.

It's a funny thing about names, that our parents (usually) put in a lot of time and effort into choosing one imbued with meaning that they hope will fit us, and then by the time we are 8 or so, we've decided that we need a different name and so we pick alter egos and pseudonyms. Well, now I need a pseudonym for a top-secret assignment (I can't tell you any more about that or I'd have to kill you and I really don't want to kill you. I just washed this shirt). What I CAN tell you though, is that the name needs to reflect, not just who I AM, but who I'd like to be: Someone magnetic, passionate, vibrant, sassy, and maybe just a tad dangerous.

My mother recommended Veronica Franco to me. The main character in the movie "Dangerous Beauty," Veronica was a 16th century poetess... and courtesan. And as much as I like her ability to charm anyone she meets, I just can't reconcile being named after a hooker.

So the search continues...