all in a name...

(unedited)
 
had a very interesting convo with someone and my name came up. when she first laid eyes on me, soon after coming out of the womb, my grandmother named me "precious." and i had only been called precious up until my first day of nursery school.  at nursery school is when i become familiar with hearing veronica roll off people's tongues. i think that is why veronica, spelled and said in its entirety, is associated with school, work, activism, learning, seriousness, plans, structure, being on my A-game etc. veronica is the capricorn part of me and precious is the cancer part of me. precious is home and home also exists in public spaces.

along with veronica and precious, i have two other middle names and though they have very special meaning, it's rare that anyone calls me either of them. one of my middle names is a combo of my mom's two best friends names, they have been friends since grammar school.  i think that's wonderful that she has sista-friends who have been in her life that long.

precious is it unprofessional. whatever! 

when i designed my newest business card and website i didnt put precious on it. the only reason i didnt put it on my website is because it would have made the single line across the top into a double line. lol lol lol. on my business card, same reason.  the odd thing to me is that i have had more than one person, especially those who call me precious, ask me about it. people who call me precious have asked my permission to still call me precious as an adult. i'm often taken off-guard when this becomes a discussion point because it's such a mute point for me. and when precious, the movie precious came out some folks got real uneasy about if it was okay to call me precious. often i am shaking my head in disbelief that one has given this so much thought, when it's such a no brainer for me.  with the movie situation, i was offended cuz aint shit wrong with the precious in the movie or real life gabourey sidibe. so no, i was not offended. 

anyway, this name thing has always been an issue for people but it has never been one for me. at my very core, precious who i am. i had to figure out veronica. and now at 39, i feel all integrated...lol lol lol lol.

the interesting thing about veronica is that in the last ten years, people have started calling me variations of veronica.  ten years ago a sista-friend started calling me "vee" and OMG the floodgates opened. lol lol which, she was particular, the two ee's had to be on there. she was even more particular that it is "vee-dub" lol lol lol.

now, friends call me v, v-bo, v's, veronicassss, but my family never called me veronica, not even my aunt who i am named after. lol lol lol lol.