Friday, November 4, 2011

A name

Our friend, Dee, wrote an incredible post on her blog
about what a name can mean to someone. 

I admit,
I take names lightly.

My name is Jodi.

Some people spell it Jody
or Jodie,
or 
even pronounce it 
Judy.

It doesn't bother me at all. 

~

My husbands name is Bryan.

That's Brian,
 with a Y.

His license used to read Brain.
(which I think he really liked)

and some junk mail comes addressed to 
Brawn.
(which again, 
he really likes!)

~

But when Dee wrote about her daughter, 
(Evelyn and Jorja were best friends in China)
and how Evelyn never heard her Chinese name used in reference to her 
while in China -


I thought I would ask Jorja if people at "Director Han's"
(how we refer to the orphanage)
ever used her name
Chun Yu


She thought for a moment 
and then said,
"No, I don't remember hearing ChunYu,
until you and Daddy and Ms. Rebecca call me it."
(Ms. Rebecca was our facilitator in China)


She tapped me on the arm and said,

"That is all they did,
and then said 'come here',
or 'No, don't do that.' "

WOW! 
I can't even imagine going through life and
 not knowing or hearing my name.

Now I understand why it has taken Jorja almost 
3 years to allow us to call her,
"honey"
or 
"sweetie"
or 
"Jorja Porja"

Claiming ownership to her name has been a precious
gift to her.


I love you Jorja - Porja!
(can't help myself - I'm a nickname kinda person!)

Another step in the healing process of my little girl!


4 comments:

Shonni said...

Wow...how sad. But how helpful for us as parents to have another piece of the puzzle.

Jay said...

What a powerful post. And sad on so many levels. Thanks.

Musings from Kim K. said...

Ok. It's my turn to wipe away tears. Beautiful post, Jodi.

Dee said...

Our sweet girls. Who knew the names we so lovingly picked out would in the end mean so very much to our girls.

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