The Name Changer

Josiah is struggling with being called…Josiah.

He doesn’t feel like his name is cool enough. He has been begging us to call him something else.

Eli Manning.

True Story. {Though I do have it on good authority that he wouldn’t mind being called Peyton if Eli doesn’t work out}.

I happen to know that many kids feel that way at one time or another. I, myself, wanted my parents to change my name to Gwendolyn Raquel.

Gwendolyn sounded so much more glamorous. Gwendolyn would have glorious hair…free of the fuzz. She would have 20/20 vision and not have to wear ridiculous coke bottle glasses on her small face. Gwendolyn would know all the cool things to say. She wouldn’t be awkward. She would also live on a horse farm and have a closet full of parachute pants and Gloria Vanderbilt jeans.

I eventually grew more comfortable with some of who “Rebekah” was. Rebekah’s hair generally a disaster..though there was that brief time in the early ‘90’s that she had some good hair days. She eventually got contacts. The coke bottle glasses made an exit in her teens. She still didn’t have all the cool words to say…in fact, the older she got the more “random” she became. She eventually realized, however, that there were worse things to be. Random was, at least, entertaining. The horse farm never happened…thankfully. She realized that horses (like the cows, pigs and chickens her father raised) pooed. She also decided that a closet full of parachute pants would be just plain ridiculous.

Instead, she decided that shoes and purses were the objects of her affection. And as many dangly earrings as she could get her family to purchase for her (this is not at all a hint for future Christmas presents). 

Rebekah also decided that a name doesn’t make a person. And the more she thought about it the more she understood that her name was one she could wear with honor. At least it wasn’t like everyone else’s.

Josiah was named after a king in the Old Testament. The Josiah of the Bible become a king at the ripe old age of 8. He was known for being a good king in lineage of some buggers.

As my Josiah approaches his awkward/awesome teen years I hope he will become the best version of himself he can be. I hope he will never become ashamed of the truly unique person he is. 

Of course, I realize that these things are a part of growing up. And I probably have a bit more to do of that myself.