Tracey Gamer Fanning Shimer
So…. Carrie and I are in the middle of writing our book… and this subject keeps coming up.
It has basically come up only about 4,000 times since my divorce.
Why haven’t I changed my name?
Hmmmm…. because Tracey Gamer Fanning doesn’t just roll off the tongue?
And…. Tracey Gamer Fanning Shimer…. I don’t want people to laugh before I even start talking!
But here’s the explanation…
When Bill and I got divorced… the judge asked me if I wanted to change my name… just like that… no warning… no thought… just as an aside… like… Oh Yeah… by the way… wanna be Tracey Gamer again?
I hadn’t even thought of it. I kinda had a lot on my mind… like, Brain Cancer, My Dad dying, My headaches, My seizures, My hot new boyfriend…
I say this all jokingly… but that’s what my life was… every day… just trying to make it through every hour.
So when the judge very nonchalantly asked… Do you want to change your name? I hesitated… and said no.
I had been Tracey Fanning for so long… it was my professional name, my credit card name, my emergency who to contact name….. my kids names.
So… I became Tracey Gamer Fanning.
Two and a half years ago… when Greg and I got married… the kids asked us if I was going to change my name? So, in return, we asked them what they thought?
My daughter said… through teary eyes… “Does this mean we won’t be related anymore?”
And Greg’s Girls only knew their Mom as Mrs. Shimer. They didn’t want another Mrs. Shimer.
We understood… As we have since we started this ride… it isn’t just about us.
Greg and I are more married than anyone we have ever known. In Good Times and Bad… In Sickness and in Health… Til death do us part.
So… I usually just go by Tracey.
But now that I have a book being written… about me…. the name thing has come up.
So I wanted to let everyone know… beforehand… the actual story behind the name/names!
Love,
Tra