Say my name!

I was sitting in the waiting room of my doctor's office. I was there for my weekly, or bi-weekly, blood test to check my PT/INR, or blood thinness or thickness. From that test, we know what my dosage of blood thinners should be. Anyway, I was reading the same magazine article I read the week before, I do believe it was about knowing my "Plastic IQ." Just remember 2-4-5 are the good and "safe" plastic numbers. Oh gee, I hope that's right! All of a sudden, through the awkward silence of the room, I hear that sound, "Jessica!" Deep inside, I know the nurse has just called to me by using someone else's name. I look around, hoping to see the "real" Jessica stand. No such luck. "Jessica!" I sigh and resign myself to the fact that I must answer to another person's name yet again. I wanted to say to the people around me who were looking at me and probably wondering why it took me so long to get up that my name actually isn't Jessica. But then they would wonder why I was going then. So, I just left it. What "irks" (I never say that word when I'm actually talking, but it serves my purpose here) me is that she had my actual name right there in front of her on my chart, and still chose not to say it. She might as well have called out "Frank!"

My whole entire life (not just life- entire life) I have been called Jessica by many people. Now, it's a lovely name, if your name is, in fact, Jessica! My name happens to be Jessilyn. I know this is my name because every time I say my name, I say it three times. I know it really well. Most people haven't heard my name- hence the oft repeated pronunciation. Actually no one that I've talked to has ever heard my name before. I actually love that. Thanks, Dad.

I don't even mind telling people over and over what my real name is. I really like my name, but I totally understand that it kind of throws people for a loop, a loop, when they hear it for the first time. So, if you're reading this and worrying if you didn't get my name right the first time, or even the eighty-third time, I love you and appreciate the effort. I am really, really bad with names, so I do understand. But, I usually get it right when I'm reading it.

Back to my original story. I have been going to this doctor's office almost every week for five months. That's about, oh . . . lots of times! I almost always have the same nurse. Now, if I had known I would have her a lot, I would have corrected her from the beginning. (It's like those "Friends" and "Seinfeld" episodes- when is it just too late?) But the first time I went, I was in a wheelchair, and in no mood to get in a tiff over names. I was too worried about how silly it looked that I had to be wheeled in the waiting room, but when the wheelchair didn't fit through the door to the doctor's office, I had to stand and walk in, if you can call it walking. I knew what everyone was thinking, "Faker. That Jessica's a faker." So, believing I knew what they were thinking, I thought to myself, "I won't correct her this time because I'll let everyone go home and talk about that Jessica who's too lazy to walk and just wants everyone's pity, not about Jessilyn who's too lazy, etc. . ."

So, in writing this post, I have decided to use this name "Jessica" to my advantage. I will continue to be called that, even by people who are reading "Jessilyn" off a piece of paper. But I will be sure not to correct them when I am doing something Jessilyn would never do, such as speeding, dropping my child off at school in my pajamas, or calling someone by the wrong name.