Chapter from The Adventures of Todd and Kelley

Years ago, we toured Laura Ingalls Wilders home in Missouri, and the tour guide showed us a little room, with a desk and chaise longue chair that was right next to their bedroom.  I guess, Laura would often wake up in the middle of the night, and remember a story or event, and she would get up and write in her Big Chief notebook with her pencil her wonderful stories, then go back to sleep in the chaise chair so she wouldn't awake her husband.

   I can't compare my writing or my stories to the level of Laura's but I am relating to the middle of the night thing.  I awoke at 3 am this morning, and thought of this story.  So I sat up in bed, grabbed my iPad, and started writing, what may or may not end up in my book "The Adventures of Todd and Kelley."  So for as good as 3 am writing gets, here's what I came up with.

Oh That Name!

(a chapter from the Adventures of Todd and Kelley)

    It was sometime shortly after we were engaged, Todd was at his one and only NDRA rodeo he did that summer, that I began to see that this last name could cause some interesting situations.  

   We were at the big city of Wing, ND and Todd was backed into the box ready to rope his calf.  I was sitting in the rickety bleachers, waiting and watching.  The announcer called up, "Next up is Todd Roo-er, is that how it's pronounced?"  

    Todd with his piggin' string in his mouth, some how managed to yell up to the crows nest above him, "Rye-er". I was sitting there talking aloud to myself, "Is it Rye-er, or is it Roy-er, or Roo-er? Oh, dear, I'm marrying this guy and I'm not sure which way that name his name is pronounced."  I suddenly had a brain freeze.

  Finally the announcer said, "Oh, I think that's Rye-er folks."  

  I found out at that moment, getting people to pronounce Reuer (Rye-er) correctly was going to be a challenge for the rest of my life.  I mean with a name like Shaw, rarely does one question the pronunciation of the name, but Reuer, throws people for a loop all the time. One thing I should  say about having the name Shaw in North Dakota is, people often think it should be Schaff,  North Dakota is mostly German and Norwegian, so having a Scottish/English name throws some people.   I teasingly tried to convince Todd before we were married, that maybe we should take my last name, cause it was so much easier, but he didn't go for that, and truly I wouldn't have either, and if we had done that,  just think of all the stories I would have missed, if we would have taken the Shaw name.  

    Some where around that time after that rodeo, I started a little jingle about his last name, "Rye-er, Roo-er, Rever, Retriever."  Ok, silly I know, I just like alliterations.

    Later, after we were married, and Todd was in a car accident, the paper wrote up the article that Todd Revere, (although not related to the famous Paul Revere), had hit the good Samaritan. That was one time I was glad they misspelled our name!  

     Our name has often been listed as Rever.  I guess people think there just can't be three vowels in a row,  typically not in English, but Reuer is German, so...

     One section of Todd's family pronounces it "Roy-yer" with more of an "oi" sound. This is the more German pronunciation. Although I don't mind that pronunciation, Todd told me his name was pronounced "Rye-er" that's what he said when I stood at the altar and I took his last name, so I'm stickin' with what he told me.

     The mispronunciation of our last name, really kicked in as the kids got older, and started rodeoing and doing sports.  One memorable time was Tyson's first regional rodeo in Buffalo, SD.  He was team roping at that time with Courtney Bickel, she headed, and Tyson heeled.  They came out for their first go-around, and the announcer slaughtered our last name.  Tyson said he was getting use to if he heard Tyson and anything that sounded like it started with an "R" he would figure he was up next, and would just go. (There was another Tyson who rodeoed in the same region at that time.)

    After that days rodeo, I was walking with Tyson back to the sale barn where we were stabling his horse, and ran into the man that was the rodeo announcer.   He asked, how do we pronounce it.  I told him, what by then had become my standard little jingle to help people remember, "It's Rye-er that rhymes with fire, not Roo-er that rhymes with sewer."  The man chuckled and said he'd remember it now.

    The next day as Tyson and Courtney came out to rope, the announcer began a little sing song saying "It's Tyson Reuer rhymes with fire, Courtney Bickel, rhymes with pickle."  About that time, I think I saw a little thought cloud appear over Tyson's head that was saying, "I'm gonna kill you mom!"  Yes, parents are put on the earth to some how always embarrass their kids, but hey, after that, at least with that rodeo announcer, he always pronounced it correctly. 

     Todd told me when he was a little kid, he hated his last name, cause no one could ever get it right, then someone pointed it out to him, that hey, you can spell it backwards.  Yup, it's a palindrome, same forwards as it is backwards.  After that Todd said he felt his name was really special.  Spelling it is cool, pronouncing it is a challenge.

      Philip ran into the same challenge wherever he went with football, basketball and track.  It became a game with us, as we waited to hear his name in the staring line up, wondering how it was gonna be pronounced this time, often changing several times during the game, as the announcer struggled to figure it out.  Eventually where ever we lived, at least the hometown announcer got it right, away games was another story.   About the only place that ever got it right, the first time, in an away game, was in Chamberlain, SD.  But then again, there's another group of Reuer's that live in that area, and yes, they're distantly related.

     So between people never spelling my first name right, it's Kelley with that extra 'e', and no one ever pronouncing my last name right, having my name right has been a constant problem my whole life.  I guess, sometimes I've wondered, why I make a big deal about it, I'm not totally sure, except it's part of who I am.  My name defines me, it identifies me from everyone else. This reminds me of a scripture in John 3:1.

  "There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. (John 3:1 NLT)"

I was reading that one day, and what jumped out at me was the phrase, "There was a man named..."  I think there are some important things to notice here. 

#1. This is stating there really was a man, this not a made up story. 

#2. There was a reason to know that man's name. 

#3. His name had meaning, it meant Conqueror.

#4. His name is listed (at least in this translation) before what he did for a living.

I don't know if there's really any spiritual connotation to that, but I want it said of me some day. "There was a woman named Kelley, …"  That my life would count, that my life would have a significant part in my world today.  Maybe not on the secular or worldly end, that the news media would know, but on God's end, in his writings and records, that it would be said, "There was a woman named Kelley…"  I want my life to count.  I want it to count with my family, with my friends, with my neighborhood, and city.  My world of influence. The whole world may never hear of me and I really don't care about that, but with those God has entrusted to me, I want it to count.

Another thought I had was, it says "There was a man named Nicodemus.." The word "named."  He had a name, he wasn't anonymous, he wan't unnamed, he had a name.  Nicodemus means conqueror, just like Kelley means warrior.  Every time someone said Nicodemus' name they were saying "He's a conqueror"  Every time someone says Kelley, they're saying "She's a Warrior." That use to really bother me, cause I felt like my whole life, I was fighting something, then I realized that I can be a victorious warrior for The Lord, but please remember to  spell it with the extra 'e'.  I can so relate with Anne of Green of Gables, when Marilla asked her what difference it makes how Anne is spelled and Anne says, "Print out A-n-n, and it looks absolutely dreadful, but Anne with an 'e' is quite distinguished." I'm not sure K-e-l-l-e-y is distinguished, but it does feel symmetrical to me, and also remember Reuer rhymes with fire.