I KNEW I was in Trouble!

I remember when I was a kid. I grew up in a Dallas suburb and we played until the streetlights came on. Then I checked in with my mom, and sometimes went out and played some more. The worst tension came when I had two shows that I wanted to watch coming on at the same time on different channels.

But I always knew when I was really in trouble.

“Margaret Elaine …” There was never an ending to the sentence. Only my name, but that was all that was needed. I think the fact that there was no verb collaborating with my name made my mom’s call all the more frightening. Threatening. And the ellipsis that shows up after my name? Let me tell you, it was real. Like palpable. I knew there was something that would follow, and I wasn’t going to like it.

My mom named me after one of her best friends. I always hated the name Margaret because it was twisted into the most awful nicknames. And no, I am not going to share them with you. Yikes! But she chose the word Elaine because it went well with Margaret and rolled off the tongue.

So, drawing conclusions here, she knew, before I was born, that I was going to be a handful, and she chose my names so that she could call them out easily together. Clearly, she knew she’d be doing that a lot.

BTW, my brother has the same type of name. I can still hear my mom calling out to him: “Randell Loyd!” Seems I didn’t hear that name nearly as much as I heard my own though.

When hubby and I chose names for our kids, we were very careful to pick names that would roll like that with my son. And let me tell you, he wore it out! But when my redhead was born – now you’d think I would be even more careful with a redhead, right? – we chose a name for her that really doesn’t sound like her nickname. We call her Katie, but her name is Kathryn. I don’t think, even now, that I have it in me to call her Kathryn. She’s too much of a Katie. So forget about even trying to add the middle name. With my twins, we didn’t even attempt to make their names yell-able. And it was okay with them anyway because they were always really good. 

So now I’m having a grandbaby. Yea! He’s a boy! Woohoo! His parents (Katie and her hubby Matt) have named him Caleb after the great man of faith and strength in the Old Testament. And they’ve given him the middle name of Dean after my hubby. Katie even wrote a letter to her baby to the effect that he is named after two of the most godly and faithful men she knows. Yes, sweet hubby teared up at that one.

And I can’t help but notice how Caleb Dean just rolls off the tongue! Is that in preparation? LOL!