J is for

J is one of my favorite letters. It starts such great words: jubilant, joyous, java, jokes, jeans, jammies.

But it's my absolute favorite letter of all because it is the first letter of my own name (and yes, Mikaiya is just a handle). I am named after my father's father, Grandpa Jack, who died when my father was just a teenager. My initials spell it out... JAC. I started out as Jenny (and yes, now I'll glare if you try that one now). Jen for the longest time. In my professional life, I'm now a Jennifer. I switched in college, but especially when I was in grad school in the Midwest- they always misheard me as saying "Jan" which is NOT my name. Jennifer is a lot harder to mis-hear.

I find it interesting that when I worked in a more diverse environment, everyone used my full name... now I'm surrounded by American citizens, it's back to Jen. I don't really mind one way or another (though I always write out Jennifer nowadays). I don't have many good old photos of me, since my parents still have my old photo albums. But here's a few, mostly for entertainment value.

On the beach with Mom, around 4-5 months old:


First birthday:


Heading to the Honors Ball (freshman year of college, so 1999-2000?)

(not a bad photo, Alex, if you read this blog...)

Dancing in Jerusalem in January 2001


Unbelievable that Israel has hit 60. Another one from my trip, at the Kotel:


I rock the flared cords and apparently never grew out of flannel.

There you go. J is for Jen.