What's In a Name?

I have five names.  Five!  Okay, well technically I only have four because my last name is hyphenated but most people (and a lot of computers too) just have no idea how to handle that hyphen so they just pretend it's not there and choose to only acknowledge the letters on one side of the hyphen which is sometimes annoying and other times, hilarious.


I never thought I'd have five names and certainly never saw myself as the type who would complicate things by throwing a hyphen in the mix.


I've told this story here before but my given name is Paula Diane and oh, how I couldn't wait to drop that Paula when I married Darin and use my maiden name as my middle name.  Not because Paula is a bad name.  I like the name.  I was named after my dad, Paul.  But it just confused people and made me feel like I was somehow not being honest when I just went by it without feeling the need to explain that I'm not really Paula...I just play one on paper. 


Yeah, the people at the dmv, social security office and especially that lively bunch over in customs do not appreciate your explanations. It only gives them a good excuse for scowling and treating you like a hardened criminal.  


And just when I thought I was finally done with the complicated mess of an extra name, I went and got married again.  The first time I did drop Paula.  It was gone from my social security card, driver's license, medical records...gone. The only place it remained was my birth certificate.  Ahh....I was free to be Diane at last and for many years.  


Then I married Charlie, post 9-11, and that witch nice lady at the social security office told me I could drop Diane or my maiden name or Darin's last name (my children's last name!) but I was gonna be Paula again whether I liked it or not. And that was that. 


So I took a big deep breath, bit my tongue real hard and said, "Fine.  Paula it is.  I'll be Paula again! The maiden name goes." 


I was, after all, still me... only a me with five names married to a man named Charlie who had gone by Chuck (Chucky when he was younger) for 40 years.


You see, we met online and while he had only been back in the wonderful world of dating for a few months he had already experienced a little crazy (and not the good kind) with some of the women he'd met so Charlie was his online alias and since his name is actually Charles anyway, he didn't feel it was a lie. 


We were still getting to know each other and I was none the wiser until I got an email from Chuck.  "Who the heck is Chuck?! Who exactly are you anyway?  Are you Charlie or are you Chuck?"  And so he explained his situation and I explained to him that I liked Charlie better and he said he really did too but just could never get anyone to call him that growing up. So Charlie he would be.  


And that is how I became the woman with five names and a hyphen married to Charlie, the man formerly (and in some circles still today) known as Chuck.  


But really?  What's in a name?  

Another Boy in July...

Yesterday I told the birth story of my firstborn in which I proclaimed at one point during a very long labor that I would not EVER be having any more children. 


Well, turns out I lied because exactly four years later I found myself expecting son number two who I swore was going to be a daughter right up until that ultrasound that told me otherwise.  Once it sank in that I was going to be a mom of two boys and not a mom of a boy and a girl like I always thought, we began the process of trying to think of and agree on another boy name.  


Devin was always agreed upon.  Somehow I knew he was going to be a boy, we had both always loved that name and well, Lee, his daddy's and popaw's middle name, just seemed to be the perfect one for him as well.  


And since both our names began with D and then we had Devin, it seemed that only a D name would do for baby number 2.  And somehow it had never occurred to me to come up with another boy name.  Devin was my boy name and Darcy, my girl name.  


But as He so often does, God had other plans about what was best for our family...


So what do we name him?  I poured through the D section of that great big book of baby names but nothing seemed right to both of us.  


Then I saw it...Drason...Draysen....Drayson.  Yes, I liked it and to my surprise, Darin liked it too.  


But although it sounded right, those spellings in the book just didn't look right to me.  Eli was going to be his middle name, after his great-great grandfather, Robert Eli.  And after writing down various spellings of his full name, I settled on Dracen.....Dracen Eli.  Yes, that was it!  


Then came the decision of whether or not to have another c-section or try for a natural birth.  And although the pain after a c-section is no walk in the park, I didn't want to go through another labor like that first one, and now with an added risk, so c-section it would be.  


His due date was July 24th and when it came time to schedule the surgery my doctor looked at the calendar and said one week before (which is when they normally schedule a c-section) would be July 17th.  "How does that date sound for you?"  


"Umm...I don't know.  That will be Devin's 4th birthday and I'd really hate to check into the hospital on my little man's birthday.  Can we maybe do it on the 18th?"  


And so it was scheduled... He would come into the world on July 18th.   


I don't think I slept a wink the night before.  My nerves were off the charts. We showed up in the hospital parking lot bright and early on the 18th and paused as Darin said a prayer that all would go well.  


And it did.  At 11:27 a.m. they held up that little 6 pound 10.5 ounce  feisty, screaming baby boy and I think I blurted out, "He's so small!" And then, "He looks just like YOUR baby picture!" to Darin.  


And then just like the first time, they brought that little bundle over to meet his mama and I fell in love all over again...


Happy 8th Birthday, Dracen Eli!

Every child begins the world again.... ~Henry David Thoreau

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.  ~Marc Brown