A Year of Blogging: March 10, 2011

Today is 'Middle Name Pride Day'. Twice in the last week, a coworker has asked what my middle name is. The one wanted to call me Amy Jo. Which sounds very southern. I am not a southern belle. I am a proud Yankee. The other wanted to know to put it on a name tag, and I wouldn't tell her. She thought it was a secret. No, I just don't think it needs to be used every day. The truth is, I love my middle name. I have always loved it. There was a large chunk of time that I preferred my middle name to my first name. It is such a beautiful, old name. It looks so pretty written in cursive. It is a name held by queens. And it is three times longer than my first name. Give up? My middle name is Elizabeth. It was a popular middle name for girls my age. Elizabeth is my middle name because it was my Grandma Wager's middle name. I've already told you how my parents chose my first name. My mom thought Elizabeth went nicely with it, and it was a great way to honor my Grandmother. My Grandmother was actually named for the funeral director's wife. My great-great grandfather died as a young man, leaving his widow with four young children. The oldest two were farmed out to friends. My great-grandfather was sent to live with the funeral director. It was thought he could help in the funeral parlor as an apprentice. He was driving the wagon (horse drawn) out of one of the hollows with a body in the back, and when he hit a bump, the body rose up out of the wagon and spooked him. That ended any hopes of him becoming a funeral director. But he continued to help with the funeral director's farm and around the house. He lived with them for years, and when my grandmother was born, she was named Ruth Elizabeth after the wife of the funeral director. I was close to Grandma Wager, and I always loved that I shared her middle name. The only problem is my monogram. When I was about 10, I asked for a monogrammed sweater for Christmas. When the sweater came, it had APE on it. I didn't realize that with a monogram, the order is first initial, last initial, middle initial. It was such a pretty blue sweater monogrammed with a darker blue. But it said APE. I was mortified. I forgot this lesson, and in high school, asked for monogrammed stationery. As soon as I opened the box on Christmas morning, I remembered why I don't like my monogram! I had 200 pieces of expensive linen stationery to use. I still use my middle initial, but I have not bought another monogrammed item.