What's in a Name?

They say that the one word that you love to hear or see more than any other in your life is your own name. If you think about it, there is something magical when you hear your name spoken, signed, and written. To me, that seems a bit arrogant, but the more I think about it I can see where there is some validity to this declaration. I actually changed the name of my blog recently as a result of that arrogance. I figure if Walt can have Disney World and Disney Land, and Elvis can have Graceland, and Dolly can have Dollywood, and Michael can have Neverland. . . .well. . . I might as well have a Bradleyland, if only for now on a blog page. The mansions and the theme parks can come later, of course. I can remember as a child always being referred to as Brad, until I had pulled a Dennis the Menace stunt and the words BRADLEY followed by my entire middle and last names boomed out of the mouths of my parents. Wow. .I knew I was in trouble then. A powerful word. Your name. An identifier from the day you are born, unless of course you choose to change it, that can be superbly haunting yet serenely comforting. I recently was speaking to a close friend who said that she was awakened one evening out of a deep sleep by the sound of her name being spoken. Startled and admittedly fearful, she lay in the darkness and stillness of the early morning hours with only the increasing thud of her heartbeat resounding in her ears. After those first few moments of fearful panic that she was not alone in the room, she began to feel those pangs of anxiety subside only to be transformed into a burdening worry that something was definitely wrong with one of her grown children. It wasn't until the next day that she was able to discover that. .yes there indeed was something wrong. A Mother's love for her child. A Father's love for his child. If it wasn't for that barely audible declaration of her name, produced in my opinion by an Angel, she would not have known to investigate the well-being of her own child on that particular day at that particular moment. I've heard it so many times said that a "mother's intuition" is usually right. Well, in this case, that intuition was ignited by one simple word. Her name. I have become cognizant of this phenomenon by the stories of others and with every one of them, it seems that it is the sound of their name that instantly focuses their attention. I don't know why I am choosing to write about this; however, I think it is one of those "things" that is so magical yet so surreal that it is worth entertaining. What's in a name? Well . . .for each of us. . .if only in the case of our own name. . it's everything. BH