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LOVE ALL THE NAMES I HAVE BEEN CALLED
Santa Claus, Jim, Dad, PopPop…I admit I was a bit enthralled…
when in the course of a single day…all these names I had been called.
And it brings a smile to my face…it makes me sigh…it makes me glad…
to look back on my life at all the names that I have had.
While still in my mother’s womb…Baby was the first in a lifetime of names.
Once born, my parents, using a name out of the Bible decided to christen me with James.
I’ve been called JOY (my initials), Otto (my middle name), Elf (I prefer not to think of him)
I’ve been called Yerman, Yermy, Jimmy…but most people know me as Jim.
I had one uncle…who couldn’t remember my name…who would always call me Sonny…
And, apparently, I’m the only on in my family whoever calls me Funny.
I’ve been called a boy, a teenager, a man, a students, a teacher…a friend…
I’ve even performed a few marriages as…you guessed it…a Reverend.
I’ve been called boyfriend, husband, father…my grown children still call me Dad
I’ve been called Mr., and sir, and some names that have made me angry or sad.
Which brings me back to yesterday…a day that gave me pause…
When in one 24 hour period I was called Jim, Dad, PopPop…and Santa Claus.
All my different names have contributed to the continuous creation of Me….
each title carries its own meaning…each name evokes its own memory.
I cherish all the names I’ve been given…and I love how they’re not all the same…
I imagine that’s why I smile…when I hear someone call out my name.
It’s a wonderful way to evaluate a life…a beautiful way to keep enthralled….
As I sit back, smile…and think about…all the names I have been called.
In 1977, when Joseph Barry
In 1977, when Joseph Barry published his excellent biography of the French novelist George Sand, entitled Infamous Woman, he wrote these words about her selection of the pen name, and I paraphrase: "One's name becomes one, one also becomes one's name." And the identity of George Sand filled all of the gaps and neediness that Aurore Dudevant had experienced under her own mundane name; as the personality of the novelist George Sand fully emerged and asserted itself, and rescued her from the pitfalls of her mundane existence. I, myself, experienced something like this at that time. I think you have also described it here, and you have described it very well.
Starward