April 25, 2021

"Did the Nurse Tell You My Name?" by Sharon Heagy

 

“Did the nurse tell you my name?” I asked this question at the dinner table when I was young and it brought milk snorting chuckles from my siblings and amused smiles from my parents.  Though I had never considered how the nurse would know, in my mind every child was born with a name.

It was then that I learned my parents had chosen a name for me. I’m not sure what the thought process was in their decision making. Perhaps after giving names to five other children before me these two names popped up and they thought ‘these will do’. I do know, because of a mistake, my middle name became Leah instead of Leigh.  My Dad had misspelled my middle name on the registration and so I was named Sharon Leah.

Sharon means a fertile plain. Leah’s meaning depends on which origin you use, the most common from Hebrew meaning ‘weary’, the oddest, from another root, meaning cow.  Does that mean I’m just a weary cow chewing my cud on the plain? Perhaps not such a bad thing. Laying in the sun, contentedly chewing away. On a stress filled day it might be most welcome.

The mother of a friend of mine called me Heather. She said I didn’t look like a Sharon and she wouldn’t remember that name so she decided to call me Heather. I thought that was weird but I was a kid who didn’t generally talk back to adults so Heather I was.

My own Mom passed away in 2001 and much of the memory of the sound of her voice has faded away but I can still hear her calling my name. It echoes from the mists of memory. My Mom on the front step, calling me home for supper. Her voice landing on my ear no matter where I was on the block and above all the other moms’ voices who were beckoning their own kids home.  I can hear the hardness of the S and H when she was angry with me and the sigh of an ‘Oh, Sharon’ when she was disappointed. Just before she passed away she couldn’t speak or rather she ‘spoke’ but no sound passed her lips due to a stroke.  I often wish we would have had someone in the room who could read lips so we would know what she was trying to tell us in her final hours.

I’ve always thought a person’s name and their preference for what they want to be called matters a great deal. We should have respect for their moniker and not shorten or change their name to suit ourselves. And especially not change their name entirely, to say, Heather. (It’s a lovely name, so much softer sounding than my own but it is not mine.)

When our three boys were born, they were each given a middle name that reflected the family history on the Heagy side. Since my husband has 3 sisters our boys are the only ones who will carry the last name from his Dad’s lineage. It seemed an important thing for us to do. However, there are times when names like that can cause confusion. For instance, we know of a family where there are three generations of males named John and as a result, senior, junior and little were tacked onto their names to differentiate between the three. In my own family my Dad and eldest brother were both named Ronald and so senior and junior were quite often used for clarity.

Names are fascinating as are their origins. If we think it is challenging for us to name our children imagine when God honoured Adam with the task of naming all the birds and animals. It makes me wonder if he was running low on creative juices when he named the platypus. It is conceivable that the word ‘platypus’ was just gibberish.  I envision him rubbing his chin with his hand, weary and a little brain fogged, staring at the creature and saying, “Let’s see…. duck billed…. Platypus.” Then he and God had a good chuckle and kept the name in remembrance.

Whatever our names, whatever their origin, our hope is that they will all be found written in the ‘Lamb’s Book of Life’. Us, our children, our grandchildren…all. May we look forward to that day when we will be struck with awe and wonder as we hear our name spoken with love by the Lamb himself.

 

8 comments:

  1. Loved this Sharon. I do love the idea of a cow contentedly chewing it’s cud on an open plain - never thought I’d say that but it’s appealing these days! I loved your story about the nurse knowing your name! ❤️

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    1. Thanks, Pam. As always you are such an encouragement to me. May you also be encouraged and blessed today.

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    2. A good story, Sharon. I also was named Sharon when I was born and I think, for the same reason you state here -- I was the fourth child and I think my parents were running out of names. Sharon was very popular in the years and area where we lived so maybe the same applies for your parents. My name became Sheri in grade 1 because there were two Sharons in the class and my teacher asked my mom, also a teacher in the same school, if she could change my name to keep us straight. No teacher would dream of doing that today but to this teacher, I guess it made sense. The name stuck and soon I was answering to Sheri at school and Sharon at home without realizing it. One day in junior high I signed up for volleyball on a sheet in the hall and that evening, my sister said to me, "Who's Sheri Hathaway?" It was then that I realized my double life. At one time when I moved to a new city, I tried to change it back to Sharon but I soon forgot to tell people my name was Sharon and said Sheri out of habit. I changed it formerly to Sheri when it started to confuse people who made out my pay cheques. I still wonder if I should have kept Sharon but as you say, I don't think it mattered to my parents because by the time I came along, they were running out of names!

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    3. This reminds me of when I worked at our local grocery store with a Sears outlet. I found out many people go by a different name than their given name. And some were quite different. One lady who goes by Betty is actually named Lorna. It was quite interesting especially in a town where most people know everyone else. Everyone has a story of some sort. Thanks for sharing yours!

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  2. I enjoyed hearing your stories about the nam ing process! So much fun

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    1. Thank you, Tracy. These days we could all use a little chuckle I think.

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  3. I totally agree about calling people by the name they want to be called. That's why I strive to call people by the name they prefer.

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  4. It’s important isn’t it.

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