Last week, Julia reached a major milestone in being a Tassava: she received her first award with a misspelled last name. A certificate for completing her toddler swimming class, it put her name as "Tassave" - a common mangling. Shannon corrected it by writing the final A in over the E. Get used to it, kid: it's only the first of a zillion. And just wait until some poor waiter calls out your name when your table's ready. Anything's possible then.
As hard as our last name is to spell and to say, it does offer the possibility of a large corporate family:
Caffeva - bovine insemination service
Cassava - importer of tropical root vegetables
Taffara - weaver of shiny silken cloth
Taffava/Taffeva - maker of fine saltwater-based candies
Tassara - small-business IT networking (the most common mispelling)
Tassave - maker of bass-fishing life jackets