Naming Things

This is going to seem like a stupid post, but it amuses me.

My sister and bro-in-law have always named their cars. I never did, but the practice does put a personality on inanimate objects, and I like the idea.

My daughter and grandchildren seem to have picked up on that. A few years ago, Megan bought a Pontiac Montana minivan, complete with DVD player for the children. The minivan became "Hannah". (Hannah Montana--get it?) Poor Hannah served well through the years, mountains, and even unbelievable heat in Death Valley, but died an ugly death right after our return to the Midwest this summer, forcing Megan and Denis to buy another minivan--a Honda Odyssey. Naming this one was a no-brainer. The new blue minivan became "Homer". Homer Honda. (The first male in the dynasty.) Homer Simpson (cartoon character) is one of Megan 's favorite "people"...and the author of the epic poem The Odyssey, was a Greek poet named Homer. All hail Homer Honda, and may you serve longer than Hannah did!

Just a couple of weeks before Megan and Denis left on their trek to California a couple of years ago, I gave them a GPS for Christmas. The voice was female. She often sounded annoyed as she said "recalculating!" when they didn't do what she had told them to do, so they named her "Linda". I'm not sure why, but I do know that there was an annoying person at Megan's previous workplace who was named Linda. Coincidence??

My grandchildren, Robin and Ryan, have their own naming standards. Robin is always creative about naming her toys and dolls. Her big stuffed horse is named Piccadilly. Piccadilly?? Where did that come from? When they were in the Webkinz phase of childhood, Ryan named his critters more simply. The stuffed wolf became "Wolfie"...the bear became "Beary"...the platypus became "Platty". Do we see a pattern here??

My daughter has to have a loud fan blowing at bedtime, just to drown out noises. (Me, too!) The fan goes everywhere she goes for an overnight stay. Her fan came with us on our trip back to the Midwest from California this summer, to be plugged in at each motel room and cabin along the way. Following Ryan's pattern of naming, the fan was called "Fanny". Poor Fanny got dropped at one location and her base broke off. We had to take a side trip to a Walmart to find a replacement--Arizona? Don't remember where we were... We didn't have a proper funeral for Fanny. She got dumped in a trash can in the Walmart parking lot, but we had a replacement. It was a kind of "The fan is dead; long live the (new) fan" situation.

I think I need to find names for things that are close to me and have been with me a long time. My one and only house plant is one. My beloved house robes are another. Another friend is my patio, which is often my only link to the outside world. Patty????