yes, like the water filter

i wonder how many times in my life i've uttered those words upon a first meeting with someone. my name is Brita, and growing up i hated it more than anything. i bitterly wondered why my eccentric parents did this to me. how could they foreshame their first born daughter into a life with a oddball name? i mean, it was bad enough that they gave me super tall genes, no coordination, and bad eye sight. the freakish name didn't help my cause. i grew up in the south, outside of Atlanta, where all the little girls had names like Heather, Stephanie, and Michelle. hell, even Lavone would have been better! nobody could ever pronounce it--that is until the Brita.



the water filter, i have to say, did change my life (and not just because i was drinking crystal clear purified water for the first time). since the filter has become so popular, i find that approximately 70% of people i meet mention it. actually, it's pretty astounding. most introductions go as follows....

me: hey, what's up? i'm Brita.
them: Brita...like the water filter?
me: yep, just like the water filter.
them: oh, i bet you've heard that millions of times.
me: yep.

the funny thing is that just about everyone throws in that last line regarding the amount of times i've probably heard the comparison. it's like by qualifying their response, they feel their initial comparison becomes less ridonculous. well, it's not totally ridonculous because now they will remember my name whereas before the filter it might have just evaded them completely like a jackrabbit in the tall grass. because of the filter i have a reference point. what starts to bug me though is when people start asking if i have any relation to the company. like, did my dad develop the Brita and name it after me? do i get some kind of advertising commission from Brita?

uhhh, no.

over the past 10 or so years i've grown out of my distaste for my name. i'm now quite thankful that my parents were toking whatever it was when they bestowed the name upon their infant girl. having an odd name growing up forced me to think outside the box sometimes. it contributed to my dorkishness during adolescence. i mean most of the Heathers wouldn't be caught dead with their noses in books during lunch or carting a voilin case home on the bus. i've grown to adore and embrace my Swedish ancestry. i've figured out who i am and how i want to live my life. all that nerdiness helped be figure out who i am at the core. over time my long legs have become an assett and i can wear contacts when i go to the beach. i'm still working on the coordination thing, but hell we can't all be perfect.

Brita is Better