T.

Happy Birthday Mary!

Mary is my oldest sister, the first of six girls
after my only brother. She takes great pride
in the fact that she named me:
story is that a friend of my mom came to the
hospital to see the new baby, as yet unnamed,
or, at least that's what my parents thought.
Apparently, Mary -- age 10 -- had told her
friends on the playground at St. Anthony's School
that her new sister was named after Saint Thérèse
of the Little Flower --



So, of course, one of these school-mates went home
and reported this to her mother,
and this mother visited my mother and told her
what a lovely name her new baby had!

Indeed. I think I was supposed to be Barbara,
patron saint of artillerymen:



If I had to choose between the two names,
I 'd grudgingly choose Thérèse, even though
it's rarely pronounced correctly.
(Thus: T.)

My name is not:
Theash
Trish
Trace
Tracy
Treece
Theresa
Teresa
Terse
Threrse
Terace
Tress
Thereece

If you're still with me in this very
self-indulgent post, click here for an example
of the correct pronunciation.

But I digress.
Today is Mary's birthday, and I'm wishing her
many, many more on this planet!