Idea born nearly 30 years ago

The idea for Adelia's Last Name originated almost 30 years ago.  Marilyn and I were presenting a session at The Writer's Conference, Inc. in KS.  We talked about the children's books we wanted to write.  I mentioned I was working on a story about a little girl who did not like her last name.  She was teased about it, it was hard to pronounce, etc.  Her parents told her that it would change when she got married so just be patient.  This was based on a true story about my name.  I complained to my dad that I was being teased because my first and last name rhymed.  He told me he was teased about his name when he was young.  His name was Brooklyn and they called him Brooklyn Bridge.  He told me he had to keep his name but I would get a new one when I got married.  Marilyn and I started brainstorming and thought it would be funny for the character to have a long last name that she thought would change when she married.  The twist at the end would be that she married someone with an even longer name.  Marilyn then mentioned a friend of hers named Adelia Diffenbaugh who married and became Adelia Deardorff.  Thus was born our character,  Adelia Dieffenbaugh-Dieffendorpher.  About the only thing our completed book has in common with our original story is the little girl's name.  More on how things changed later.