Stupid Thing of the Week

24 September 2007

Compared to my life, there's not really anything stupid or pointless I can think of right now, so I think I'll share this with you.

I went out to eat with my family on Sunday, and I sat next to my brother. We don't talk much, but somehow we started talking about how we got our names and--

Oh yeah, it's because my sister is pregnant and she's been kicking around baby names, so my mom started talking about how we each got our names, and I mentioned my brother's middle name, when he said, "Uh, that's not my middle name." I thought he was joking, or that he didn't like his middle name, or that he'd maybe changed it, but no, he insisted that Reece was not his middle name, in spite of the fact that I KNOW his middle name is Reece. "Come on," I said, "I've known you all your life. It's Reece." I mean, I was at his baptism, his high school graduation, I'd heard it a dozen times when my folks were yelling at him, his middle name is Reece.

So, he pulled out his driver's license, and showed it to me. His middle name there wasn't Reece. He said his birth certificate was the same way.

I ate in stunned silence for a while, thinking back to the times it had come up and pondering the brain damage I must've gotten somewhere along the way.

Then my sister asked me about my middle name. She's known me all my life, but she--and I swear to you this is true--thought it was "Larry." So, I guess I don't feel so bad now.

Rish Outfield

P.S. My middle name is not Larry.