diego miguel morel morel.

This week Miguel went down to the Oficina Civil to declare Diego and to receive his birth certificate. Apparently everyone was there the same day to declare their children as well. There are a lot of Dominicans who don't even bother to do this and then their children remain "non-existent" in the government's eyes. Its these children who can't attend the public schools and get good jobs without their ID's.

The Oficina Civil is where we got married as well. Its probably the most chaotic government office. Most of the time, you have to buy someone who works there a lunch or juice to get anything done on the inside. Miguel always finds a way to worm his way in. It pays to know people here.

Miguel wanted to be sure to find a competent person to do the paperwork. He wanted to find someone who would write the name down correctly the first time, so that little Diego would have correct paperwork. You'd think that would be a basic thing to do, but trust me, it isn't.

So everything was going well until it came to my last name. When we got married, I didn't even think about having a hyphenated last name like Fisher-Morel. I'm really not into that. So when I changed my last name on my Social Security card, passport, etc. it was Jennifer Lee Morel that it was changed to. Well that doesn't apparently go over too well here. I have to have a different last name than my husband and my child HAS to have TWO last names. Like most Dominicans, the person taking care of Diego's birth certificate couldn't see out of the box. Diego has to have two last names. Thats all there is to it. They wouldn't believe Miguel that my official paperwork doesn't have two last names on it.

So little Diego's name is officially declared DIEGO MIGUEL MOREL MOREL.