It was between Leland or Calvin, with the middle name of Michel (Dad's first name) and no one could decide. Way back in the begining, Mom decided she wanted an "Irish old man name" and surprisingly, Dad said he liked it. Dad's always been a fan of the cartoon Calvin & Hobbes. Mom said she actually liked the name Calvin too, and Dad agreed. They said they'd have to see me to decide for sure. That proved to be more difficult than imagined.
After I was born, and Mom had been fed, the took us down to the Mother & Infant wing of the hospital. There, Grandma and Grandpa unveiled my new hat. They'd bought it months previous and were sure that I had to wear it now. Right now. The nurses came to introduce themselves and noticing the hat and my lack of name, they took to calling me "Sparty." (They are State Fans too!)
("Sparty")
The day we were due to be discharged, the Records Lady kept coming into the room to see if we had come to a conclusion, but there was still no decision. She said she'd be leaving at 10:30am, so she needed a decision before we went home. At 10:25, in his normal fashion of LATE, Dad walks into our room. Mom quickly states that they needed to flip a coin because she didn't want to have to drive back to the hospital to name me. They flipped Dad's lucky coin a few times, it landed on Leland. Mom, still unsure asks "Are you sure? Are you positive? You're sure?" while hurrying to the phone to call the Records Lady. Records Lady picks up, Mom is still asking Dad if he's sure...he's not sure...Mom says "I think we have a name for you." and that's that.
I'm now Leland Michel Becker.
(As you can see, I was nameless for a while.)
The next day, Mom and Dad BOTH called me Calvin, multiple times. Perhaps they chose wrong?
What an adventure! Picking his name was like a roller coaster ride.
ReplyDeleteIt truly was.
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