What’s in a Name?
What’s in a name?
I try to volunteer a couple of times a month at the used bookstore attached to a Habitat ReStore. It’s called Julia’s Café & Books; it’s named after Julia Maulden, a woman who helped establish Habitat for Humanity locally.
I love Julia’s and have had a couple of interesting encounters there. (Like this one.) The other week, an older woman approached me holding the placard that’s pictured here. It’s from a small shelf displaying recommended reads from volunteers + staff members.
“These are darling! I’d like to use them at [specific name of retirement community that was unfamiliar to me]. Where did you get them?”
The odds were stellar that it was from some random Amazon storefront with a nonsensical name, but I told her I’d find out. “Oh, coincidentally, that’s me — Amy — by the way.”
“Thank you so much, Amy!” (Impeccable, personable, warm: She could teach so many a thing or two about conversation.)
I returned with the info written down via a staff member. We talked more about how she wanted people in her community to share more about the books they were reading and enjoying — maybe using these signs. I then showed her how we display book recommendations when we hold gatherings at our home.
“Well, I love that idea too, Amy!”
She stated the name of her church and asked if I knew it. “Not specifically,” I admitted. But now I know it, and I also know that this woman heads up many social justice-oriented activities there.
I told her to please come back and fill me in on how her book recommendation endeavor turns out. She assured me she would and that she would easily remember my name because prior to moving to her new community she sold her home to someone named Amy — a teacher, just like she had been.
It was such a delightful interaction. Yet I knew as soon as we parted ways that I hadn’t done right in the manners department because, I’m ashamed to say…I had failed to ask her what her name was.
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“We don’t walk down the same street as the person walking beside us. All we can do is tell the other person what we see. We can point at things and try to name them…” — Anne Enright; The Wren, The Wren
originally published on instagram