Sunday, March 9, 2008

What's in a Name?


What's in a name? As parents we put a lot of thought into our children's names. We say them out loud over and over, considering everything from the reaction others may have upon hearing it to the way it would look on an office door. We consider family and tradition, our heritage, personal likes and dislikes, and frequency of use… "Aunt Hazel would be so proud if we named our girl after her... Hazel Nutt. Oops, scratch that!!" "No, not Eddie! He sat behind me in the fourth grade and constantly picked his nose!” Well maybe not, but you get my drift.

As I drive almost an hour, one direction, to class these days (What happens when you live in the middle of no where and school is south of nothing.) I’m allotted a great deal of thinking time, which for me is a good thing as personal thoughts seem a minimum at home. No less than three people generally requesting my time at once -- topics ranging from Day Light Savings Time, to saddling a T-Rex (Yes, it can be done with enough Velcro!), and why we can’t have soda with our lunch, just to name a few. Oh my, now I’m rambling, back to the original topic…

This past Friday, while traveling home, my thoughts skewed toward the importance of a name, especially when it involves necessity of patronage to encourage growth, and suddenly I got a “wild hair” to reconsider the name of our nursery. As I mentioned, public opinion has tendency to sway our decisions and in business can be critical, and so begins my informal “pole” (sorry, inside joke) or poll… Keeping in mind my play on words I’ll leave you with your three choices to vote from: 1.) Wild Hare Farm, 2.) Gray Hare Farm, 3.) Late Bloomer’s Nursery.
Don’t be shy! Voice your opinion and we’ll see if it compares to friends and family who have already voted.