don't rest on ones laurels

Apparently lauren comes from laurel. which is a crown that is made up of a number of shrubs or plants. These are dipictedly shown in Roman and Greek culture from a time period before and after christ. The other commonly shown laurel is on top of jesus’ head on crucifixions. I suppose that makes sense on why my parents picked it. I was raised as a catholic, so I can see where Laurel and Catholicism connects. Honestly, I don’t understand the modification, Laurel sounds way more feminine then Lauren. I also learned that Lauren is a masculine and feminine name, one that is familiar is RALPH LAUREN, where many people will go by LAUREN rather than just plain RALPH. Lorena is even better than Lauren. Lauren is a popular name, I’m sure you’ve all knew someone named Lauren. I tend to go by Laurie unless it’s a job or school. Why Lauren at work? It matches my social security card and it lessens confusion. Why school? That’s what my roster says, and frankly I don’t care. Often I wonder how differently my life would have been if I never corrected a teacher or a co-worker to call me Laurie instead of Lauren. Since, I liked the idea that there are not many Lauries out there, and when there is, it’s often spelled Lori and I would just get myself even more annoyed as my name was commonly misspelled instead of actually corrected. I know there are some names I stray from due to connotations I have with previous people that I’ve known with that same name. So I often wonder who would I have met or not met if I went by Lauren more strongly rather than a casual Laurie. This may be the answer on why I let the person pick, I usually introduce myself as “Laurie.. or Lauren, which ever you prefer”.