What's in a Name?

Today I will keep my blog post very brief, I have a funeral to attend..well, tonight is the wake and tomorrow is the funeral. My wife's uncle Ray passed away on this past Sunday. He was a good man and lived a good life. Uncle Ray was a quintessential business man, in fact, when my wife Shirley and I were married, he congratulated us on our "new venture". He will be missed by everyone he leaves behind. Tonight we will travel down to Wyoming County to attend the services.

A hectic next couple of days is expected. So, what about the title of this post. What do I mean by "What's in a Name?" Well, this morning I received a comment by none other than that maven of Appalachian Living, Granny Sue, who suggested I post about my name. You see, Granny Sue treated me to lunch last Friday, it was good to see the good Granny and to catch up a might (and she gave me two pints of jam!!!). We talked of chickens, coffee mugs and stray dogs...you know, the makings of a typical Appalachian conversation. Anyway, Granny Sue introduced me to a friend as "Matt", I corrected her and said "Matthew...please don't let my mother hear you call me Matt". Granny Sue's inquisitive nature kicked into overdrive and I saw that sparkle in her eye, so I had to fill her in on the details.

Now I know, "Matt" is short for Matthew, but all my life (so far) I have been called Matthew, so much so that Matt sounds foreign to me. I remember when I was a kid in school, teachers would call me Matt. I was instructed not to answer them if they called me that name and of course, that earned them a visit from my fightin' mad mother who "sooner" informed them that "my son has a name, a good Bible name, not something that you wipe your feet on". (I'm sure some teachers wanted to say to Mom "Yeah lady, he has a name alright..little SOB", but you don't give lip to an irate mother wielding a ballbat). You have no idea how many times I have been present to hear that tirade over my name. Mom's tirade used to embarrass me, but I've grown to like my name, Matthew does sound unique in a world full of "Matt's", so I'm glad mom stood up for my Matthew-ness. Of course, I've also grown to like my middle name, "Henry" but that is a whole post in and of itself.

So, more about that in future posts. I really like hearing from readers of this blog, so drop me a line sometime, either by leaving a comment on a post or by emailing me privately at kwahaddi@gmail.com

If you like certain stories, let me know, chances are I have a whole sack full just like them. Remember, this blog is still in its infancy, so let me know what works and what doesn't, right now I just post whatever comes to mind on any given day. Hope you all enjoy it.