"What's in a Name?"

What do all these lovely ladies have in common?

When I was in my preteen years, (I think!) (sometime in that general vicinity anyway) these are the kind of faces that came to mind when I heard the name "Lizzie".  Weird how you have connotations with certain names.  I don't even know where that one came from!

I went through more than my share of nicknames in my childhood and early teen years.  I discovered that there are far more nicknames for "Elisabeth" in the baby name book than there are for, say, "Heidi" =)  I had a violin teacher who wrote a new nickname in my book every week for a while...  I tried to use a good deal of them.  "Beth", "Lisa", and "Liesl" were probably the most often used (other than "Lizard-breath" by a select few) (and these days, there is one young gentleman of my family who has decided that "Wizzy" is somehow, somehow fitting.  I am trying most ardently to break him of this notion) until my family decided they liked calling me "Lizzie".

Now, these ladies above are quite wonderful.  But are they me?  They're nothing like me!  So after me complaining about being called "Lizzie" for a while, we compromised.  They could call me Lizzie if they spelled it "Lizzi" - because I didn't know anyone named "Lizzi".  Not even a redhead.  It seemed like... Me.  It fit.  So, to this day, I spell it "Lizzi".  Why I didn't just use "Lizzy" I have no idea.  Just didn't think of that I guess.  

This is a random spiel but when you move somewhere new and introduce yourself to new people, you realize it is kind of a pain that you always have to clarify "oh, that's EliSabeth spelled with an S instead of a Z" or "L, I, Z, Z, I... Yeah no E.  No, it's I.  Not Y".   And you sit there thinking "why exactly do I spell it with an I?"  But by now it's grown on me.  It is me.  So when people write "Lizzie" or "Lizzy" I want to correct them because otherwise I feel like I've neglected to let them know that they're not talking to me. 

Actually I've taken to introducing myself as "Lizzi, as in Elisabeth" because apparently "Lizzi" sounds like "Lucy", "Izzy", and "Lindsay".

Life is weird.  Or perhaps I am...  I'll leave you to be the judge of that.  And I'll leave you with a few fitting words from other people.  While I try not to think of my car sitting at Westminster with the third flat tire I've had in the last month or so...  And all the homework I have this week between work.   I could use another 12 hours of Sunday for my poor brain.  But I am super thankful that I have friends who stand by and offer encouragement and mittens while I wrestle with a screw that won't stay in the grip of my torque wrench, and find people to fill my tire with air for me tomorrow, and drive me home in the meantime!  And I have to shake my head and think God has a sense of humor.  When I am super stressed about life and obsessed with scheduling my every moment in order to stay in control, He throws me for a loop and reminds me that things are never really in my control anyway.  I am comforted to know that He is, and oh how He loves me!

On that note.

What’s in a name?  That which we call a rose  by any other name would smell as sweet.
— William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive. — Thomas C. Haliburton

Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry. — Bill Cosby

images courtesy of Google.  =)