When I signed my life away at the altar I let go of ‘Miss Wilden’ to become Mrs Richardson. Part of me wished that more than my name could be changed. What if the mutated HD gene was attached to the name? If only changing our genes was as easy as getting one man to do everything your way, or as easy as spending thousands of dollars. I felt really sad that I was no longer a Wilden. I have no brothers to continue the name but I realised that actually that doesn’t matter. In the end it isn’t the names that count. The legacies we pass down the generations go far beyond what is in a name. Dad’s love for the outdoors, for tramping, for mountains, for climbing, for creation, for the fresh mountain water, and the clear mountain skies-passing that on is more important than a name. To pass on a love for God, for The Highlanders, for music and history, for his family-that’s what’s important and that doesn’t change no matter how many names I go through.
In the Hobbit movies the one story is split into three different parts, with three different names: An Unexpected Journey, The Battle of the Five Armies, and The Desolation of Smaug. Even though they have different names they are all still part of Bilbo’s one journey. It’s all just one big story! Even though the name at the end of my signature has changed my story is still the same. I am still on the same journey I was on 3 months ago. Bilbo was still Bilbo in each movie, still played by Martin Freeman, still plagued by a rogue ring, still destined to be on that journey and to go where it took him, despite the name of the movie changing. Yes he changed throughout the journey. Yep marriage changes you, life changes you, hardship changes you but I am still me, played by me, plagued by a rogue gene, still destined to go wherever this journey takes me. The best part of it is, I get to bring my best friend alongside me. Bilbo didn’t really have that, but Frodo did. How different would the Fellowship of the Ring have been without a friend to remind them to have second breakfast or elevensies?
“I made a promise Mr Frodo. A promise. “Don’t you leave him Samwise Gamgee”. And I don’t mean to. I don’t mean to.”
- Samwise Gamgee, The Fellowship of the Ring.