In early June 2010, upon the occasion of me changing the nickname I was publicly using from “Marti” to “Maggie,” the words my mother commented on the Facebook post were, “A rose by any other name…”

Although she continued to call me Marti, the updated spelling of a nickname she had given to me as an infant, to the rest of the world I was “Maggie Slighte” from June 2010 until August 2023.

In August of this year, my brother lost his decades-long battle with addiction. Losing my only sibling has been extremely traumatic.

I have Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). I am a “functional multiple system.” Sometimes I’m much less functional than others.

I was called “Marty” for the first years of my life. During those years, I was an only child. Once again, I’m an only child.

I had originally rationalized the change to Maggie by the fact I was married for nearly 21 years, and that nickname had been a suffix to someone else’s name for all of those years. That’s what happens in a long relationship–you tend to lose your identity to the whole.

Circling back to the use of Marty as my nickname for now and possibly the future, I feel was inspired by the first time my name was said in conjunction with another.

As my mother’s children, we were together called, “Marty and Jason.” When I hear the name, Marty, I feel my brother close by.

Jason called me Maggie when we were living together, during the last time he had a home. But our mother and so many other relatives and friends thought of us as a unit, Marty and Jason.

Now, when I hear my re-chosen nickname, Marty, I am comforted, knowing I’ll join my brother when my time here is done.

You may know me as many names, but for now, I ask kindly, please call me, Marty.

To my brain, and in my brain, “Marti” and “Marty” are different people. I don’t ask you to understand that part, just that I now go by Marty.

I have updated many of my pages to reflect the change, but “Maggie” will still pop up every now and again. And yes, I answer to either.

I have changed my author pages to “M.E. Slighte” to better encompass all of my parts: All of MEs.

As one of the original personalities in this body, I’m still catching up on who I want to be when I grow up. But then again, aren’t we all?