How Do You Spell It? Let Me Count The Ways!

When we chose names for our boys we wanted names that could be shortened or lengthened, depending on what we felt led to call them at the time, or what society chose to call them. I have a name like that. I was born Kimberly. My family called me Kimberly or Kimmy up until I started school, at which point my name immediately got shortened to Kim. (Why do teachers do that? I hear it happening where I work all the time and it drives me crazy . . . ) In Grade 5 I insisted that the entire school call me Kimberly. It didn't fly, so I gave up on that idea and I've pretty much been Kim ever since. However, in the bloggy world and among my closest friends and family, I am often called Kimmy. I like it.

The boys I named are Mitchell and Tyrone. I did not participate in naming my step-son, but oddly enough, his name is also one that can be shortened or lengthened--Thomas. We've never called him Tom or Tommy. To me he's always been Thomas. However, his middle name is James, so prior to my arrival on the scene, he was known as T.J. About the time that I became part of his life, he was asking to be called Thomas, so I've never known him as T.J. He's always has and always will be Thomas to me.

I am finally get to the point of my post, which is this: Mitchell's name is getting butchered. I cannot understand why his name is misspelled so often. Here are the ways I've noticed it being spelled by other people in the past few months: Michelle (uhhh . . . that's Michelle, a name for a girl!); Mitchel (this is the most common misspelling); Michell; Mich; Mitche; Michele; Micshell. There is also another way to spell Mitchell's name, which I've never actually seen anyone do for him, but it's when you replace the "i" with a "y" and I personally think it looks ridiculous. Mytchell.

10 years ago when we were choosing a name for our first-born, I never dreamed that "Mitchell" would cause so much chaos in the spelling world. I thought it was a pretty straight-forward, easy-to-get-it-right-the-first-time-around name. Apparently I was wrong.

Ty's name creates an issue every now and then as well, but only when an "e" is added to the end of Ty, which makes it Tye. I thought about starting that spelling back when he was younger, but it just didn't look right to me. Ty's name can also be spelled Tie, as in Tie Domi, an NHL hockey player, but we didn't really want to name him after Tie Domi. The "rone" of Tyrone's name is rarely used, even by our family. A lot of people don't even know that his full name is Tyrone. We've been calling him Ty pretty-much from the day he was born.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I hope you all feel loved today.

I Love My Job

I feel so blessed to do what I do. Twenty years ago I did not expect myself to be working in a school setting helping children with challenges, learning or otherwise. I really feel that my gifts are being used in a way that pleases God. Honestly, out of any job I've ever had in my life, this is the job that I look forward to going to 99% of the time. I'm so grateful for God's leading in the aspect of employment for me since we moved farther away from the city. His plans always amaze me, especially when they aren't necessarily my plans.