I asked her over dinner: If I were to change my name, what should I change it to? What name would she give me? A pause. “Alex.” Click. I had always loved that name, for no reason that I could give voice to. I always said it would be the name of my child, before I decided not to have any. So many times I dwelled on it, the sound, the sharpness, the feel of Alex on my tongue. And here was my girlfriend, who knew none of this, bestowing it upon me. And my name became Alyx. “Thank you.”
Alyx Gilbertson is a part-time student at Diablo Valley College in California. They are an English major and write in their free time.