Laurel Croza: Hello, my name is Laurel Croza. Most people, those who have known me for a long time, don't call me Laurel. They call me Laurie or Laur. When I was young, I had difficulty with the L at the end of my name. It was tricky for me to pronounce. It sounded like I was talking under water. In grade two, I simply dropped it from my name. Problem solved. Now that I'm older, and I can say Laurel without sounding all gurgly, I've reattached the L back onto the end of my name where it belongs.

Croza is my husband's family name. It was also changed, but not because it was difficult to pronounce. It was changed because of persecution. Mike's grandparents' name was Patz, and they fled Russia because of the pogroms. When they got to France, they took the name Crozure from a street sign. They they continued on to England. During World War II, when Sam, Mike's dad, was in the British Merchant Marines, for some reason—no one can remember why—it became Croza. And that's it: the story of my name.