Once in a blue moon

As I've mentioned before, there was a pretty big obstacle to Kevin and me dating each other. I imagine most people would feel at least a little weird about going out with someone with the same last name as them, and we certainly were no exception.

But, as fate would have it, we did end up dating, and even ended up married (4 years ago today!). In a few short vignettes involving our last name, I will explain how it happened:

1. After we met, I was all too excited at the thought of friendzoning Kevin. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with him, of course, just that I was kind of tired of boys and would find any excuse I could to not have to go out with them (especially since I was so bad at saying no that outright prevention was the best policy). So the next time I saw Kevin, I was happy to say, "Hey, cousin!" That, and other similar actions kept things awkward enough for several months that we felt no fear things could progress.

2. And yet, in April, we started to flirt. All those months of being mutually friendzoned had led us to actually feeling comfortable around each other and even sort of liking each other. By the end of the semester, it was like being back in high school again, the way we would shamelessly throw small objects at each other. One night, we both went to a party full of engineering friends. I don't know how it started, but we ended up having a pillow fight on the couch.

"Oh, how cute," Jack said. "Brother and Sister Moon."

We both froze in horror. Kevin was used to being Brother Moon on his own, and I was used to being Sister Moon on my own, but to be combined so easily was shocking, and pretty embarrassing (especially in front of all our friends). That was the night I realized I wouldn't mind being Sister Moon for the rest of my life.

3. In June, we started to date. Since it was summer, it wasn't common knowledge, nor was it likely to be spread through the sparse grapevine of friends still around. One day Kevin was working on homework, and I was sitting next to him, holding his hand. A friend came up and gave us kind of a funny look. "Are you tutoring him?" he asked.

"Nope," I said.

"Aren't you guys . . . cousins?" We assured him we most definitely weren't, and he walked away. As he left I thought, "I don't usually hold hands with boys I tutor, nor with cousins." I also realized that it wasn't that bad having people think you were some kind of redneck with no consideration for levels of consanguinity.

You'll notice I never answered her question. I still felt too shy about it.  The correct answer is third half cousin once removed.

4. The semester we were engaged, we both took a dance class together. In dance classes, you learn first names, but there's no point to learn last names, so we were spared the usual teasing. However, our teacher knew our last names, and she knew from dancing with Kevin a few times that he wasn't married. I don't know if she ever saw my ring or not.

At the very end of the semester, just a few days before we got married, she finally cornered us and asked, "So, what's up?" She couldn't figure out why we had the same last name and would hold hands. "For a bit there I thought you were brother and sister." We assured that we weren't and looked forward to the time a few days in the future when people would stop asking about it.

5. And then we got married! And people stopped caring! And I never had to legally change my name!

Although, we're still working on what to call the grandparents.