I'm the eldest of 3 kids. I was born premature, weighed 4 lbs 14 oz, and then had lots of what they now call "motor delays"... did everything "late".. and they named me Geraldine, after my mother (she told me she was going to name me something cool like Kim or Randee but my grandfather said "well she'll always be little Gerrie to me", so she figured "if people will call her Gerrie may as well name her Gerrie").
I was always one of the shortest, skinniest ones in my class, and definitely NOT athletic! I remember someone telling me I'd be able to jump further and run faster, cuz I was smaller and lighter. Didn't happen! I was almost always the last one in the race. Did I care? Nope, I loved reading books.
So I was "little Gerrie" and my mother was "Big Gerrie"... that's VERY funny, because as an adult I'm only a quarter-inch shorter than my mother was (she passed away in 2004). I'm 5' 1-1/2" and Mother was 5' 1-3/4".
As a little kid I never thought anything about my name -- everybody called me Gerrie. Yes, it's with a G and an i-e. G, because it's short for Geraldine, and the "ie" ending is to "be more feminine" (so Mother told me).
Until First Grade. The very first day of school I remember meeting my teacher, and she asked my name. Of course I told her, "Gerrie". Then my mother whispered something into her ear. And the teacher said, "ok Geraldine, here is your desk". And on my desk was a name tag with the name Geraldine written on it. I felt SO betrayed!!!!
All my life I've always hated my name -- I wanted to have a cool name, like my little sister Penny. I wished my mother had not caved in to other peoples' wishes and called me that cool name she had in mind, Kim!
When I looked in one of those baby-name-books I found out what Geraldine means, and hated my name even more -- of course it's the feminine derivative of "Gerald" -- and it means "spear bearer". One book I looked in said Geraldine means "Spear Woman". I was shocked --it was just a STUPID idea to name me that -- it was long and ugly, I'd have to always spell it for people, and I associated its meaning with that tribe of warrior-women called Amazons -- I'm a short, wimpy, and geeky bookworm -- it just was NOT the right name for me!
Flip Wilson inventing a character named Geraldine didn't help at all.
When I got to college I still hated my name but it didn't occur to me till my sophomore year that I could have changed it by introducing myself by my middle name Carol.
So my sophomore year I told people I was now going by my middle name... it didn't work. Only 2 people changed over. Sigh. So I got married with the name Geraldine. Later, however, with my divorce, I legally made it Gerrie.
Over the last few years, however, my spiritual life has created a side-effect of changing my view of my name. For example, in Ephesians 6 it describes the spiritual armor we are to wear daily, including a SWORD. Our God-given assignment is to stand firm and wield the Sword of the Word, which is described in Hebrews 4:12 like this: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (KJV)
In God's eyes, size doesn't matter. He gave us His spirit and therefore His power, to further His Kingdom and stand for good. So my name isn't as much of a misfit as I thought:) Now my quest is to live it and BE it!
Looks you are going to have a lot to say. I enjoyed the story of your name.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment! This is a huge experiment... I want to mix it up, write what's on my mind and share things like recipes, recommend you tube videos etc. Hope you like the other stuff too!
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