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by Ninna
Some
people felt like there was nothing unusual about her. Her beauty and height
didn’t make her stand out in the crowd. She was an average student. She was a
member of a club, but she wasn’t really an active member. I guess you could say
that she was as common as a cold. She was one who could easily blend in the sea
of people that crammed the hallways of our school…just another face in the
crowd. Someone you’d barely wave a “hello!” to as you passed by her. That was
how I felt about her half of the year she first enrolled in our school. Back
then, she was just one of the two “Mary”s that I knew…well, barely knew.
Well, okay, maybe the only thing unusual about her was that she was Merry
and not Mary (I once saw her name on her book). That was the only thing.
Her name was spelled differently from the usual M-a-r-y. But it nevertheless
sounded the same. I wasn’t one who’d go on spelling a person’s name in my head
while mentioning his or her name and then thinking of what it meant. I wasn’t
one who asked people why they were named like that either. Jeez, who’d do such
a thing? I mean, a name’s a name. What’s to know? What’s in a
name?
“Shakespeare
once wrote, ‘What’s in a name?’ I have just the activity to answer it,” Ms.
Burnett, my creative writing teacher, said with a smile one day. I inwardly
groaned to myself as she explained the activity for that period. “I will pair
you up and each of you will guess why your partner is named as such, after
which your partner will tell you if your guess is near enough and if not he or
she will tell you the real story behind the name,”
Bo-ring. What will we gain
from this activity? Ugh. So far this is the least interesting activity she has
thought of. Why do we—
Ms. Burnett’s announcement
interrupted my thoughts. “You then have to report your guess and the real story
behind your partner’s name--no matter how boring it may seem--next meeting. Also,
you have to share your insight regarding this activity…plus you have to
pass a written report on this.” This time, I wasn’t the only one groaning (and
loudly at that) and there were some protests along with it, too. But it was cut
short by Ms. Burnett announcing the pairs…
It is a weird activity, but
come to think of it, why am I named Suzette? I never really…
”…and Brenda, Suzette and
Merry, Tom…”
thought—what? Who? Mary?
Merry? Yep, Merry, she’s the one in my creative writing class…I think.
“…Bill and George, Tina and Cleo, and the last pair, Amber and
Scott. You have the rest of the period to talk about your…”
What if I don’t know the
story behind my name?
“…I
know that some of you may think that there’s nothing worth telling about how
your parents came up with a simple name or maybe you’re not so sure why you
were named as so-and-so—please, don’t invent stories. That’s why I gave
you the next meeting to share this in front of the class, so you can ask your
parents tonight. So tomorrow, I expect that you’ll tell the stories behind your
names, as it is, no more, no less. I guess that’s it for now. You can
‘discover’ each other’s names now,”
Ookay, I guess my question
was answered. Where is Merry anyway? Ah, there she is. She was already approaching
me and was all smiles. Does she really think asking about your name is fun?
I hope I can say the same for me.
“So, who’ll start guessing?” Merry asked.
“You go ahead,” I answered.
“Okay, hmmm…I guess the
reason why you’re named Suzette is that your mom had this craving for crepe
suzette while she was pregnant with you and…”
Oookay, that was far out,
but…could it be? Nah, maybe—
“Hello-o?!” Merry was
practically shouting in my ear.
“What? Oh, well, uh—you see,
I really don’t know why my name is Suzette…pretty ignorant of me, huh? I guess
I just thought that it was a pretty name that’s why my parents chose it. I’ve
never been one to bother about details,” I explained. Merry just smiled. I
never realized until then that she had such “smiley” eyes, both crinkled and
sparkly like that, not to mention she really had a really pretty smile…I even
noticed that her teeth were really white. I wonder what toothpaste she uses?
“I guess we’ll just have to
talk over the phone about it then, I’ll get your number later. So, why do you
think I was named ‘Merry’?” she asked. I thought it over and I guessed that
maybe her birthday was on Christmas and her parents called her “Merry” instead
of “Christ-something”. I really didn’t know what to think, I mean, I didn’t
know the story behind my name, what more with hers? I guess it bothered me to think that I don’t
know why I was named Suzette…because it’s really not something you’d ask your
parents unless your name was really weird like Schwazibelle or something
like that…right? It’s really not like your parents will give you a talk about
how they came up with your name…is it? Or maybe my parents are the only ones
who didn’t inform me about how they named me…. Anyway, it turned out that my
guess was quite far from the truth. Merry was born in July, so that pretty much
proved my theory wrong. Merry got her name by combining the first parts of her
parents’ names: Meredith and Ryan…and since it meant “joyous”,
they thought it really appropriate because her birth was a joyous event,
especially since she was their first child. Pretty smart of them, huh? It
didn’t occur to me before that of course, there were other ways
of naming a baby than just picking it up from some baby book or naming a baby
after a relative. I guess I was pretty narrow-minded when it came to names.
Merry and I talked about other stuff after we learned about each other’s names
(well, not mine of course). It turned out that we had some things in common and
we really enjoyed each other’s company. In fact, we didn’t even notice that the
bell had already rung! Ms. Burnett had to call our attention, would you
believe? It was our last class and so we exchanged numbers and went home.
When
I got home, I immediately asked my mom about my name. I guess she was a bit
surprised with my question. No wonder, because she thought I already knew that
I was named after my great-grandmother who died a week before I was born. Duh.
I should have known. I’ve heard a
lot about Grandma Suzy, why didn’t I make the connection? I guess I was too
busy thinking of names and stuff. I called Merry after dinner and told her
about my name. I guess the crepe suzette thing would’ve been more interesting
to hear in class, but, hey, I felt honored to be named after a wonderful person
such as Grandma Suzy. Besides, Merry will share it in class anyway. We didn’t
just hang up after that, we talked some more. Merry was just so easy to talk
to! After two hours, I put down the phone and I already knew what to write in
my report and what to say in class.
Creative-writing
class. There was a lot of snickering and teasing when guesses and stories were
reported one after the other. The insights have been pretty much the same,
about how the activity turned out to be fun and interesting and not the least
bit boring as we first thought. It then came for Merry and I to report.
Everyone laughed when they heard about Merry’s guess about my name. The
laughter continued when they heard my guess. I jokingly defended myself
and told them it was the most natural thing to think of. Merry agreed with me,
saying some people have asked her if her birthday is on Christmas. Merry
then told us that from the start, she really thought that the activity would be
really interesting. She said that it brought out the creativity in us, trying
to think of stories behind our names. What triggered me most was when she told
us that it was a really simple yet creative way for us to know each other, to
realize that in a name is a person… waiting to be smiled at, to share secrets
with, to be a friend, because it will only take less than ten minutes to talk
about one’s name…she figured Ms. Burnett gave us the rest of the period for a
chance to start a conversation that will lead to more in the future. Merry said
she was grateful for this activity and it was the best one so far since she got
to know me better in the process…enough to call me her friend. I was
stunned. I mean, that was exactly how I felt about her! It
now came for my turn to speak. My classmates became really silent. I guess
that’s because they knew that I liked to speak in front of the class and I had
a flair for dramatic speeches. I figured they might be wondering what kind of
drama I’d dish out today. “At the start of this activity, I asked myself what
we’d gain from it…it turned out that I gained a friend in Merry. I never knew
until yesterday how fun she was to be with, when I had the chance to know her
as a person. ‘Coz I never took the initial step to know her beyond her name,
neither did Merry. But Ms. Burnett obviously saw that our class was divided
into smaller groups that didn’t care much to mingle with the other groups. She
found a way to bridge those gaps, simply by using something that we first know
about a person: his or her name. Sure, we know that the person seated at the
back and near the door is Cleo. I’m willing to bet a hundred bucks to say that
we’re not all friends. Most of us just know a person by face, maybe by name.
What then? From there we should learn how to look beyond the name and into
the person. We should reach out and get to know each other better. In that way,
we don’t simply associate the name with just a face in the crowd…we associate
the name with the face of a friend.” I took my seat and I noticed that everyone
sat in thoughtful silence. I then felt giddy and smiley because I knew that my
words, along with Merry’s, made an impact on them. It felt really good to help
others realize the truth that was always there, staring us in the face. Later,
the silence was broken by burst of cheers and applause. I knew that this
reaction wasn’t just for Merry and me, but for everyone who gained a friend in
the process of guessing about one’s name. Why didn’t Ms. Burnett think of
this earlier?-- trust me to always find a glitch in something! Then again,
better late than never! I smiled. I looked at Ms. Burnett, silently
thanking her. She was smiling. I knew that she won’t be discussing this lesson
any more since we learned it ourselves…it was like, she just opened a bag of
sweets and we just helped ourselves to it. After all, it was already there for
the taking. Wait. Stop right there…. Is that a bad analogy or what?!
Anyway, you get my gist. I then looked at Merry, my new friend-- she too, was
smiling. I looked around the room and noticed we weren’t the only ones smiling.
Bill was smiling. Alice was smiling. Cleo was smiling. Well, everyone
was!
I know that most of the stories are a bit long, but I hope they were
worth reading. Writing them was fun for me, and as I wrote the above stories, I
couldn’t help but hope that the readers will see the subtext planted within
them. As I put my ideas into writing, I have always bore in mind what kind of
lessons I would like to share with others and how I’d tell it to them without
being boring. I will not hesitate to say that I am proud of these stories. Part
of me is in every story because each one has a thought that I have often pondered
upon. My ideas about selfishness, responsibility, escapades, parting ways,
friends, change, and other experiences in life...they build me as a person and
with them, I hope, that others may learn from them, if not, even just give
these ideas some thought.
May I please ask a favor? Please, please, e-mail me your feedback to my
stories? I’d really appreciate that...regardless if my stories are good enough
for your book or not. I just want to know your reaction, and also just so I
know you read my stories. And, I guess it won’t hurt to read how much you liked
(or-- *blush* but I hope not—-disliked) my stories. You know, constructive
criticism and all that—-so I know what (or more of), what kind of stories I’ll
send next time. I won’t stop writing stories (and sending them to you)! I’m really looking forward to your reply!
God bless you and till next time—-ciao!
Ninna
S. Palmario