Thursday

June 14, 1983

My middle initial is S.   S is for Simon.  My big brother says he got to give me my middle name.  He said when I was born I had chipmunk cheeks.  So he named me after a chipmunk.  It was either Simon, Theodore, or Alvin.  Given the choices, I can live with Simon.  

My big brother was only four or five years old.  I’m just lucky that my middle name is not Scooby-doo.  

My big brother Rob also helped name my sister.  You have to remember that when Mom was pregnant for me that she and Dad did not know if I was going to be a boy or a girl.  They didn’t want to know.  They liked surprises.  So they had two names ready.  If I were a boy, they told Rob they would bring Peter home from the hospital.  If I were a girl, they would bring Shelby home from the hospital. Dad’s favorite car in the olden days was a Mustang…a Shelby Mustang.   

In the rest of America it is common to name cars after girls.  But in Michigan it is more normal to name girls after cars.  

I was born.  Mom and Dad brought Rob a little brother named Peter home from the hospital.  Almost everyone forgot about the two names until Mom somehow got pregnant again.  This time if it was a girl they would bring Novah home from the hospital.  But Rob was six years old and I guess that’s old enough to tell your parents when they are wrong.  Rob pointed out when I was born that they brought Peter home…but they had left Shelby there at the hospital.  Rob was not big enough to hold her but he was big enough to tell Mom and Dad to finally bring Shelby home.  She had waited long enough to be with her family. 

Mom and Dad listened.  A couple months later they finally brought Shelby home.