George Washington
It's not easy living with such a famous name. The most common question is: "Did you get teased as a kid?" Well, duh. Sometimes he may answer, "Never" just to see their response. Or "No, why?"
People love to come up with a joke and he said he rarely hears anything new. People always think they are the first to ask, "Did you chop down a cherry tree?" Or ask about his teeth or where he slept.
When being introduced, I have often been asked if my name is Martha or told that my name should be Martha. I respond with, "No that's his sister." Which is true.
Of course, they ask if he's related to the president and his immediate answer is, "No Trump and I are not related." He inserts the name of whoever is the current president.
He tells them he was born on George Washington's birthday. They are amazed. He says, "Yes, June 15th."
We do inform them that we have not yet found our tree linked to the first president but George's lineage does go back to England and it is possible, though not directly. Remember George Washington did not have any children.
We have tried in the past to cash in on the name, yet no one has given us a discount on President's day. We have suggested that motels or inns, etc. could advertise that "George Washington slept here" after we left and hoped to get a discount. No such luck. We know people are going to tell others that they met George Washington.
We tried a play on words for George's business cards for his cleaning business, Minuteman Cleaning. We proclaimed, "George Washington swept here." The printers thought it was a typo and put "slept" and we had to have them re-do them.
After we were married George did join the reserves and they made a big thing of it at Westover Air Force Base on February 22 with TV crews. I will admit that being newly married, I didn't like him being away one weekend a month and he didn't stay in the reserves long.
One fun event George attended a few times was the celebrity name blood drive. People who shared their name with someone famous donated blood together at one place. He met Peter Rabbit, John Smith, Liz Taylor and many other people who had famous names.
When we had children, George joked we were going to name them Seattle or Tacoma. When we had a son, despite George's father and grandfather being named George (middle name different, so no number after the name), he refused to do that to his son. We were doing a Bible study at the time and I loved the name Elijah but George was afraid he would be teased because it was close to Eliza. So, we chose Benjamin Elijah. And still people teased Ben calling him Benjamin Franklin. You just can't win.
Despite having a famous name, George is amazed when he runs into some people who can't remember his name and call him Al, his brother's name. This has happened on several occasions.
I will admit that I had a little fun with the name. I was born Deborah Jane Casey. I never was thrilled with my middle name and when I got married and changed my name, I chose Deborah Casey Washington. My Mom thought it was nice that I was keeping Casey. I wasn't sure how they would take me changing my given name. The fun part of my new name was when I have to sign a paper last name first, it comes out "Washington, D.C."
Also going from Casey to Washington took getting used to--a last name twice as long. I know my kids' signatures are blurred--you can't read the skid marks that they have made of the letters. For most of our lives, I would take care to write my name legibly, however the older I got and seeing what my kids get away with, I kind of skate through a couple of the letters in my last name. If we are signing something together, George will often remind me, "Use all of the letters".
Although I think George would have preferred a different first name, I am sure that having such a name has helped him to develop his sense of humor and has shaped who he is.
"A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold."
Proverbs 22:1
