Reeeeally Random Memory

So for some reason, in the bath today, I was thinking about baby names...which in turn got me thinking about a kid legally changing their name if they didn't like the name their parents' gave them (triggered by Howie Mandel, actually...you don't want to know my train of thought, it's all over the place!)...anyways, which then jolted my brain back to 3rd grade.

Let me back up a little. My middle name is Bea, after my parents' landlord when I was born. She was a sweet little old lady who let my parents live over top of her house with my older sister, and then when I came along, me. We called her Granny Bea, and I don't even think I realized she wasn't my actual grandmother until a few years after her death.

Which takes me back to 3rd grade. Granny Bea died that year, quickly of cancer. It was hard on me, it was the first loved one I knew that had ever died. It had an even bigger impact, when, a week later, I received her worn Bible in the mail (we had moved to Florida a few years earlier, and she still lived in Indiana). There was a note with it from her son that said something like, "We were going to bury my mother with her favorite Book, when we noticed what she wrote on the inside." And this I remember exactly:

"When I no longer have need for this precious book, it is to be given to my namesake, Rachel Bea Murphy, from her Granny Bea"

It was one of the most touching moments in my life, and I was only 8 or 9 years old. But I remember feeling so special and proud that I would be given such an amazing treasure.

Anyways, the part about names, that I remembered...
The next day, I decided that I wanted to embrace my middle name, Bea, but instead of Bea, I wanted it to be Beatrice, which was Granny Bea's real name. So I wrote my name "Beatrice Murphy" on my papers for the day.

I still cringe when I remember Mrs. Welkenbach, mockingly call out, "Would Beatrice Murphy please come to the desk?" I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

So I went up, and she said, quite loudly, "If you want to change your name, you'll have to get your mom or dad to do it legally for you, before you can start going by whatever you want."

I then remember getting made fun of, kids said things like, "Beatrice? Why the heck would you pick such an ugly name?" To this day it makes me want to hunt down my probably deceased former 3rd grade teacher and give her a piece of my adult mind.

So yes, there is my totally random memory for the day. I have so many random old memories like that, that pop into my head, it's crazy! I want to start writing them all down before they get too far in the past and I start forgetting!

Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!