A Girl Called Drew

Drew. Short for Andrea.

It is a "nickname" that is still following me around to a certain extent. Not one my parents gave me (we keep those under wraps for family members only!), or one my friends gave me per se, but rather a self elected "nickname" that was supposed to only be tried out for one evening.

It was college. There was a huge group of girls from my sorority in Whistler for Greek Invasion Weekend, and it was a cold wintery February evening. After bar hopping, we all finally settled on a bar and ran into a group of guys from the fraternity across the street. In this group of guys was a guy I went to high school with, and oddly, whose mom was one of my elementary school teachers. He also wasn't too shabby looking ;)...so I gravitated towards him and struck up conversation. He "spatula-ed" me on to a fraternity brother of his which resulted in this:

"Hey, I'm Alex"
"Hey, I'm Drew"

So let's rewind. Prior to this moment I had NEVER introduced myself as Drew! Where this had come from, was sharing the same name with another sorority sister who was on the trip and 1) trying to keep us straight and 2) both of us agreeing that Andrea was just a "safe" name. We both talked about how our other friends had much more "adventurous" names. To prove a point, she retained Andrea for the evening, and I went with "Drew" (because that seemed so much more "edgier" ;))

So I introduced myself to a guy, in a bar, with a name I was using as a social experiment. What I learned:

1) You never know who you will end up dating for 4ish years, and that they will call you "Drew"
2) That first impressions really do stick
3) Years later I still have friends who call me Drew
4) A new-found appreciation for how much I like the name Andrea
5) If I do like a "nickname", it is An or Annie

These days. I go by Andrea. Just. Andrea