My Name.

For those of you following my blog, you're used to the serialized form of my fictional story. However, I decided to have another section where I have random pieces that are loosely based on reality, but fiction nonetheless. It's a little more free form and are not all part of the same story, in any case, enjoy.

My parents gave me an Irish name. They said it was a name of a student they really liked; my parents are teachers by the way, and they both had students with the name Shannon, so maybe they thought that I would be a good student too, which I was for the most part. Although sometimes I think that the reason my Dad wanted to give me an Irish name was because he was in love with the Boston Celtics, I mean he was fanatical about them, for years he only wore Boston Celtics t-shirts and he would fly all the way across the country just to watch them play.

Thanks cindy47452!

This one time, he was so excited about going to the game he left his keys in the ignition and the car running , needless to say the battery was dead by the end of the game. He had to wait in the cold for a tow truck for hours, but he said it was worth it. Now this was in the early 80's when the Celtics won all those championship against the Lakers, and I guess they did it again recently and my Dad still loves them, but yeah, that's what I think my Dad's motivation was for naming me Shannon. Now before I got married I had an Asian last name, so there was no confusion about who you were meeting when I walked into a room, but now my last name is McConagle, I'm Shannon McConagle, can't get anymore Irish than that. Anyways, now when I walk into a room, there is only a moment of confusion because people are probably expecting a white, Irish girl and instead they meet me. Well, maybe it's more than a moment of confusion. There was this one time I was sitting in a waiting room at a doctor's office, one of those places where you have to fill out a form with your name and birth date and your medical history. Anyways, the nurse comes out with her clipboard and walked straight to a very pale woman with red hair, and said "Excuse me, Mrs. McConagle, you forgot to write down your last menstrual cycle."

Thanks hawaii!

The pale woman was actually Mrs. McMonawell, so maybe it was an honest mistake, but the nurse opened her eyes really wide when I cleared my throat and said that I was in fact Mrs. McConagle. Now when people see me, they see...well, actually I don't know what they see, because people do ask me what I am all the time and maybe I should be offended, but I'm not, sometimes I am, because I never ask people what they are because I think it's rude. But I've heard it all my life and it happened to my mom too, so I guess I'm just used to it. I used to ask, 'what do you think I am,' and I got a wide variety of answers which were always amusing to me because no one could ever guess. I mean sure they could name one or two, but not all. Anyways, by now I think I've heard it all so when someone asks me, I just say I'm mixed. Sometimes I think that in the future, everyone will be mixed and people will slowly morph into a species that all look kind of the same, like they'll be no distinction between races. I think that's what John Lennon was singing about when he said imagine all the people living life in peace.

Thanks funkybug!

And he wasn't the only one, because sometimes I think the only way the world can be as one is if we all have a little bit of each other inside of us, then we'll understand what it's like to be every different culture in the world. That would be neat. But sometimes I wonder if mixing too many things will produce something that looks a little off. I guess I'll find out if I ever have children. I think my grandmother thought that too, I remember overhearing her say that she thought my brother and I were going to turn out weird looking because my mom and dad are mixed, although I don't think I was supposed to hear that, but I think my brother and I look just fine. But, yeah, like I said, I guess I'll find out if I ever have children. I'm still on the fence about that one by the way. I used to think that by the time I was almost thirty, my biological clock would start ticking, but I'm 28 and I haven't heard anything yet because I still have a very adolescent view on children, I mean when you really think about it, having something grow inside of you is really sci-fi, don't you think? So maybe I'll never want children, beside, there's too many people on the planet anyways. Sometimes I think it's because I'm afraid of all the responsibility and I'm afraid that I'm too selfish and I wouldn't be a good mother, which by the way is one of my biggest fears. I think it's because I don't want to mess up someone else's life because I think I already do that to the people in my life sometimes, so why add one more. I wonder if my mom had doubts about being a good mother, but she wanted children so maybe that makes a difference. Anyways, my mom was a great mother and so was my dad, I mean he was a great father. Yeah, my parents are great even if they gave me an Irish name.