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published on 07/05/2005
Hats off…to my new name
By
sigmtn.com staff writer
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| Grandma Pris and Paige at one week |
By the time this article is printed I will have a new name. I’ve been working on it for nine months now trying to figure out what I should call myself. You see our middle son Daniel and his wife Debbie have blessed us with our first grandchild on May 26th , and we are celebrating a new life in our family. You may wonder why this is so important to me. Partly it is because it will be the first time in my life that I get to choose what someone calls me.
When I was a child my family and friends called my Prissy; later that was shortened to what most people call me now, Pris. When I married I became Mrs. Shartle, and my husband, Mark calls me Priscilla. When training to be a counselor at Girl Scout camp the counselors gave me the name “Spike,” I think because I was very skinny (which was not a bad thing in those days of Twiggy the model.) Later my children have all called me Mom or Momma while the children I taught in pre-school called me Miss Pris without the r. (Give them a break; they were only 18 months old.)
And you would think that by now I would have come up with a name, but it hasn’t happened yet. I keep reminding myself that this child will remember me long after I’m here in her world, and I want that memory to be a positive one that she cherishes for all time. Theologian Frederick Buechner reminds us in his book, Wishful Thinking, that once you tell someone your name they have a hold over you. Well, Miss Paige Grayson Shartle can have a hold over me as long as she wants, and that goes for any other grandchild I am so blessed to receive.
Maybe I’ll take my husband’s lead and let her decide. Until then, I’m going to cherish every minute I have with her and when the time comes and she calls out to me, as Buechner says, I’ll “stop, look, and listen whether I want to or not” because it’s what my grandmother did for me (and what a fortunate person I was), and now it’s my turn to do the same for my grandchild.
And just in case you thought I’d given up my job at the paper to be a full-time grandmother, you are mistaken. I think I can do both and life does go on here in Signal Mountain, Walden, and the Lone Oak communities. It summertime and our mountaintop gets its’ roots from summertime activities. Take time to read the stories about all the wonderful happenings on our mountaintop and don’t forget to keep up with the Calendar of Events. See you at the Fourth of July parade, Lions Club Barbecue, and Signal Mountain Playhouse production of South Pacific!
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