Here is a short entry -- perhaps.As many of you already know, my wonderful mother passed away a little over a week ago.
In addition to the many postings I got on my facebook wall and all the wonderful cards, I also received a nice house plant from the English Department at WKU (where I currently work).
The gift of a plant was very fitting: my mother absolutely loved to garden and she especially loved her houseplants (some from which I took cuttings and repotted in my home two days ago).
The better part of the story is the label on the delivery instructions. As you can see below, my name is spelled with an "S" instead of with an "F."
While you may not find anything special about that, you will once I share another story.
When I was a very young boy (a long, long, long time ago), my mother wanted to get me a very special birthday gift. I was about six years old, and I wanted a belt with my name on the back. Dad had one and some of my brothers and sisters had one as well. And so, Mom decided to go to Woods Boots and buy me a belt.
My mother was told to return a few days later and they would have the belt ready.
Per his instructions, she returned to Woods Boots to pick up and pay for the belt. She went to the counter and asked to square up. The problem was that they didn't have a belt with my name on it. The only belt that they had was one with the name "Sabian" on it.
My mother looked at the belt, saw that it was the one she had picked out for me, but informed the man behind the counter that they had misspelled the name. He turned it over and said, "No ma'am. Here is what I wrote. It's exactly what you said."
He turned the belt over and there was the handwriting:"S-A-B-I-A-N."
My mother told him that that was not what she had said, and the man behind the counter insisted that, yes, that is what she spelled to him and he verified it with her.
Now, my mother knew that she had spelled my name correctly, but she also knew that her English was not perfect. (She was very self-conscious about this.)
Keep in mind that we didn't have a lot of money growing up, and this was going to be my only birthday gift that year.
My mother paid for the belt and took it home -- begrudgingly and disappointed (and perhaps embarrassed).
As you might have guessed, I never wore the belt (mostly because my siblings made fun of me), but Mom hung onto it, thinking that some day someone would name a child Sabian and she would gift it to him/her. That time never came around.
About a year ago, I went home for a visit and Mom gave me a few things that belonged to me when I was young: a teddy bear, some shoes and clothes, and this belt. (The belt now hangs in my closet with my other belts.)
Way back then when my mom bought that belt, she knew that she had spelled my name correctly, but as I said, she was quite aware that her English pronunciation was not perfect (a point I would argue is relative.... I mean, we did grow up in "y'all" country!). She made right by paying for it. But, she always thought, in the back of her mind, that it was her fault -- her accent -- that caused the error.
I sit here thinking that I wish I could share this story with her, about how someone else had misheard my name and spelled it incorrectly and in exactly the same way as it was misspelled about 30 years ago.
Of course, there would not have been a second misspelling had she not passed away, but at the very least, I'm comforted to know that it probably wasn't her fault and now I have a beautiful houseplant as proof to remind me of this.
My mother looked at the belt, saw that it was the one she had picked out for me, but informed the man behind the counter that they had misspelled the name. He turned it over and said, "No ma'am. Here is what I wrote. It's exactly what you said."
He turned the belt over and there was the handwriting:"S-A-B-I-A-N."
My mother told him that that was not what she had said, and the man behind the counter insisted that, yes, that is what she spelled to him and he verified it with her.
Now, my mother knew that she had spelled my name correctly, but she also knew that her English was not perfect. (She was very self-conscious about this.)
Keep in mind that we didn't have a lot of money growing up, and this was going to be my only birthday gift that year.
My mother paid for the belt and took it home -- begrudgingly and disappointed (and perhaps embarrassed).
As you might have guessed, I never wore the belt (mostly because my siblings made fun of me), but Mom hung onto it, thinking that some day someone would name a child Sabian and she would gift it to him/her. That time never came around.
About a year ago, I went home for a visit and Mom gave me a few things that belonged to me when I was young: a teddy bear, some shoes and clothes, and this belt. (The belt now hangs in my closet with my other belts.)
Way back then when my mom bought that belt, she knew that she had spelled my name correctly, but as I said, she was quite aware that her English pronunciation was not perfect (a point I would argue is relative.... I mean, we did grow up in "y'all" country!). She made right by paying for it. But, she always thought, in the back of her mind, that it was her fault -- her accent -- that caused the error.
I sit here thinking that I wish I could share this story with her, about how someone else had misheard my name and spelled it incorrectly and in exactly the same way as it was misspelled about 30 years ago.
Of course, there would not have been a second misspelling had she not passed away, but at the very least, I'm comforted to know that it probably wasn't her fault and now I have a beautiful houseplant as proof to remind me of this.
