They Call Her Valerie

When I read Ginger’s post about her name, I thought, “Oh, that’s nice. Her name is so entertaining. But I don’t have any thing really to say on the topic. No one wants to read about the name Valerie. BORING.” Well guess what, blog readers. You don’t have a choice in the matter! I write it, you read it; that’s the deal we made. Ha!

I love the shortened “Val,” because most all of the people closest to me call me that. I don’t introduce myself as Val, because it sounds weird and fake and...you obviously don’t know me well enough to call me that. I’m okay with you calling me Val when you get there on your own.

Several people call me V, which probably seems weird and not like a name or nickname or anything AT ALL, but sounds very natural when certain people do it. V-Baby, however, can only be pulled off by a very select few....

People in my parents' generation like to sing me a random song that NO ONE ELSE has EVER heard of. It goes "Valereeee, Valeraaaah, Valerah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Or something like that. A lot a lot of older people sing me that song. Good one.

If someone can’t quite remember my name, they will usually at least remember that it starts with a V. Victoria? Not quite. Vanessa? Eck. Do I look like a Cosby to you? And I used to really hate the Veronica guess too, but now I’m very okay with that. Anything that gets me one step closer to V. Mars....

I have never ever never seen my name spelled with a “Y.” Ever. Why do people attempt to spell my name this way? Valery? What? VALLERY?? Even weirder. Did you even try at all? You just spelled “valley” and threw an R in there, didn’t you? Fail.

“Your song’s on the radio!” Dad would tell me. And sure enough, those guys would all be singing “Valerie! I love her....” I would get all squirrely and embarrassed but totally love it all at the same time. Indeed, it has always been “My Song.”

When I was little, I always felt very limited when it came to games involving what words started with the same letter as the first letter in your name. “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing... a vest? Vultures? A violin?” So not creative/fun/glamorous.

The name Valerie means “determined.” For me that apparently translates to: “Determined to not doing ANYTHING until the dang LAST POSSIBLE SECOND because why not? Determined to LOSE things and BREAK things and WHAT THE CRAP? Determined to ALWAYS FORGET EVERYTHING because what was I talking about?” Yes, I am very determined.