For the inaugural post, it is only right I should explain where the name "Miranda Nolanda" comes from. Yes, it is a variation of my name, and, yes, it is fun to say, but it came about many, many years ago when I was first learning to spell and write. I seriously doubt my parents had any idea the trouble I was going to have with the name they gave me. First, when I was starting to talk, I couldn't say my r's correctly. They sounded more like w's. When people would ask me my name, barely audible I would reply "Miwanda." They would get confused by this unique name and rack their brains for a close match. Brandon? Brandy? Amanda? No, no and no! I would repeat my name while pleading with God for them to understand me so this embarrassment could cease. Since I was fairly young and good parents rarely leave their young children alone in the company of strangers, one of my parents was usually there to fill in the blanks or the missing r's. Much to the delight of my parents and me, my speech issues went away after a few years before it did too much psychological (obviously, I became or continued to be super shy, never wanting to speak) and educational damage (it had started to disrupt my spelling).
So, I get past the talking funny thing and am in grade school putting my first and last name on the line in the upper right hand corner of all my worksheets and tests. Now in those days, speed was beyond cool. I strived to be the first one done in all things academic because I figured that must mean I am super smart. I would rush to put my name on whatever it was and head straight to real questions. When I would receive the assignment or test back, there would be an 'x' at the end of my name. Upon closer inspection, I would see that my teacher was crossing out an unnecessary 'a' at the end of my last name. At first, I thought it was a joke or silly prank. Surely, I couldn't have misspelled my own name. I was super smart and speedy Miranda Nola -it hit me. Both of names had 'and' in them, and I was moving so fast that when I put the 'and' in Noland I thought I was putting the 'and' in Miranda so I put the 'a' at the end of my last name just like I did for my first name. Just like with the speech impediment, the misspelling of my last name didn't last too long. I still cringe when asked my name, and I still proceed with caution when writing my full name, but I've been doing fairly well with both for 20+ years.
A little over two years ago, my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. She named him Grayer, but most of the time he just goes by Gray. He's at that age now where he is talking a lot. Of course, there are a few words that give him trouble, but just like his aunt (me) he has the most problems with his first name. I first noticed it when showing him pictures of family members. I would point to people and ask him their names. When I pointed to him, he said 'Gay.' I had him repeat it a few times to make sure I was hearing him correctly. I was, and the poor boy had no idea of his mistake. Months later, he is still telling us that he is 'Gay.' We all get a little chuckle at his expense, and it reminds me of how far I've come from my days of mispronouncing and misspelling my own name. We all grow up way too quickly, and the things that cause us grief today we will soon be laughing about. With this blog, I hope to document the memories of my own childhood along with the current stories about my nephews. This is meant to be cute, funny, touching and therapeutic (for me if for no one else).
