It's a breezy and bright summer day, my family is on my parents boat in Door County, Wisconsin.  Families  are playing ball in the water, sun tanning on the front of the boat, or just talking and having a good time, all while the music is blasting loud and clear. I'm not paying too much attention. But all of a sudden I hear a deep, rich, voice say, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mambo Number Five”. 

The beat of the music vibrates the boat and soon enough my mom and dad are staring at me with smiles as wide as rainbows. 

“This is your song!” they yell at me as the song gets closer to the chorus. 

The radio is blasting as this popular songs starts playing on the radio. I immediately think to myself, oh no, I know exactly what my parents are talking about. My dad runs up to the radio to immediately turn up the song. My head heavily goes down to rest on my knees. My embarrassment is slowly rising. I'm embarrassed that some random singer I don't even know would use my name in their song. I felt like the name was mine and that I had ownership of the name. 

The song is slowly coming to the chorus and before I know it my parents are singing along. “A little bit of Erika by my side!”

Thank goodness it's over. I was still not over the fact that a song with my name in it for two seconds would be such a big deal to my family. Like my name isn't also given to millions of other girls in the world. 

I felt so embarrassed. Someone felt the need to use my name in their song. My name is a part of me yet so many people use it in a song. I forget that I’m not the only one that has my name. My name is a part of me yet it is also a part of so many other people.