Sandy Supposes....

Call Me Sandy, But The Dog May Answer

February 2nd Prompt: Tell us a little bit about your WDC handle/username. Is there a story behind it? Are you personally named after someone, family or otherwise?

         When I first discovered WDC, and then subsequently joined, I never thought to employ a nom de guerre, or a nom de plume. Really, it just never occurred to me that I could re-christen myself, or present an alter ego. As a mystery genre buff, I suppose the names of Stanley, Edgar, James, Agatha, Anne, Louise, Patricia, Kathy, or any of many authors should have been considered, and perhaps chosen as an homage, but, meh, I obviously didn't do that. I also admire the comedic talents of writers with such diverse monikers as Charlie Farquarhson, Erma, Gregory, Red Green, Will, and Judy. The choice is endless. Actually, I would dismiss the name Will out of hand. It is both a verb and a noun. It lends itself to Will-I-Write, and Will-I-Procrastinate? Green is my mostest favourite colour, but I fail to feel it as my handle. Umm, I don't have a spirit animal, so this doesn't inspire a catchy name tag. I have noticed a WDC'er with a handle that I regrettably forgot to pick which seems implausible since I always signed my correspondence with it: Sandy B. Duh, how could I have ignored this? My letter recipients know me as Sandy B-dot. Well. my period was always emphasized...

         So. there you have it. I was pretenseless when I enrolled as SandraLynn. I made no effort whatsoever to glam my title, or disguise it. This is my given name, the official one forever emblazoned upon my birth certificate. Growing up, I neither particularly liked my name, or hated it. For years, I wandered believing my name was a unique one in my family because no other relative answered to it. I was the first, or so I mistakenly assumed. As I inevitably aged and began to ask questions that yielded replies I could remember, I discovered that there had been a past/former family member with the exact same name as mine. What?? When was someone going to tell me about this? Hadn't the scuttlebutt always been that my father named me with a random choice of no special significance? I have a sister named in honour of one of my mother's former flames, my brother bears our sire's name, and my mother herself is christened in memory of both her grandmothers. They claimed to have forgotten about this other Sandy. Really... how suspicious...??

         With some cajoling and expressed incredulity on my part, I finally learned the truth, or some of it. My namesake was a dog, yep, a family pet. He and I , unbelievably shared a name. This rangy, furry male was the canine of my maternal grandparents. My parents hastened to assure me that I had not been named in honour of this dog, and they claimed to have not noticed, or conveniently forgot his name when I was born. Hmmm, he was the first dog to ever lick my face, and I still wonder if he was confused hearing his name mentioned more often after my birth. I was an infant, but I can only imagine that "Get down, Sandy", and "I don't understand what you want, Sandy" were directed to the two of us.

         To add insult to injury, I learned later in life that Sandy the dog, my name buddy, had been somewhat of a klutz. Apparently, he was forever injuring himself. For a certain period of months my family had been forced to carry poor Sandy up and down the stairs because he'd broken a leg. Could I not have been named after a graceful dog? Was that too much to ask? No, I'd been cursed. No one has ever accused me of being light on my feet, or graceful. I am klutz personified, magnified...I too consider stairs to be my nemesis, and the simple act of walking is a struggle. My limbs have known the weight of plaster casts.

         Anyway, in retrospect Sandy isn't a terrible name. Thank God the family dog wasn't blessed with certain names such as Rover, Rex, Shep, Ranger, Hey You, Furrball, King, Killer, Bruiser, Goldie, Mooch, or whatever.