Lavina!

In the world of weird names, mine has the potential to win a prize.  Last week, I spent it with a girl with the same name in a cultural camp where it was not weird, just unique.  We bonded over how people screw it up and how we teach people to say it and how she has never had the experience of meeting another one of us.  Well, my dear, there are a bunch and we have a choir and a BIG event on our nameday!  We decided that next year we will try to get a third one to go so we can have the triumvirate... 

Anyway, the whole thing reminded me of how my mom's name has been altered over the years.  Our neighbor (back when neighbors were good) had survived polio but had some hearing loss.  She always called my mom Lavina and would stand on the other side of the hedges with something for her and call out in a sing-songy voice "Laaaaa-vina, Laaaaa-vina, Laaaaa-vina".  It was cute and no matter how many times she was told my mom's real name, she still called her Lavina.  Mrs. K was a wonderful person and I do miss her.