Clever is...

My middle name. I was packing up and put an open yogurt container in an empty lidded plastic container (that was cleaned of its past its prime food contents for this purpose). I had spent the night in MA with my mom to pick up my car (previous blog). She noticed what I did and said “How clever!” My response was “clever is my middle name.” The words struck me as I said them. When I was born, my parents couldn’t find a middle name that worked well with my first and last name and so they didn’t give me one. At some point in my childhood, I decided that not having a middle name was an atrocity. When I married, I kept my name legally and took my ex-husband's last name for professional purposes and always used all three names. I wanted people to know that I now have a middle name. Since I am a time management coach for a living, people have suggested that I go back to using my maiden name, List, for my business. with obvious reason. For some reason, I still hold on to what I do, so I have a middle name. My great-uncle, once told me that “fabulous” was his favorite word and that would be a better name middle name than Stanley. From that day forward, I addressed all mail to him as Robert “Fabulous” Windt. My father hated his middle name, Irving and yet when I daydream about turning my crafting into a business, I call it Irving Designs (Sorry, dad!). Why is a middle name so important to me? A middle name is a way to differentiate yourself especially if you’re a junior, III, etc. Heck, I grew up with Teddy Roosevelt the 6th. To be honest with my first and last name there is not likely to be anyone else in the world with my name, so differentiation isn’t necessary. However, feeling that differentiation is important to me. So If go back to using List as my last name professionally (I’ve been divorced over 5 years), what will I do about not having a middle name or what middle name will I take?

(P.S. On a related note I had a great-uncle Juny because he was Abe Goodman, Junior and I ddin’t comprehend this until I was adult.)