Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

When I ask my mom why she named me Grace, the story she gives never fails to make me smile. Growing up, my mom was a die-hard fan of the book series “little house on the prairie.” The novels tell a true story of a little girl and her family as they travel in a covered wagon from Wisconsin to Kansas. Along the way, a little girl is born and named Grace. My mother decided the very moment she read the book where Grace was born that that was the name she was going to give her daughter. I have a great sense of pride when I think about how I’m named after a literary character (I do very much love to read)
But, when I think of a girl like Grace, I imagine a pristine young lady sipping on a teacup and cringing at the thought of sweat or humor. To me, a Grace is a girly-girl of the highest order and I find it a little hard to believe, at times, that that’s my name.
I wouldn’t exactly call myself a tomboy. I adore wearing dresses and dressing up. But I also don’t mine getting dirty and sweaty and rude. I’ll belch as good as my uncle while I sit upright like a perfect little lady. I suppose that is why I feel like sometimes my name doesn’t fit. My name is wholly girlish and I feel I should have been assigned something a bit more androgynous.
Then again, the definition of the name as a noun is to have,”Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.” And I think I can indulge myself in saying that I live up to such a complimentary namesake :)