My name is Pamela

If I were to communicate with someone via words on a page, I would know if they were a family member by the way they address me. My given name is Pamela. Most people call me Pam and I'm not quite sure why. Every document I sign as Pamela and I always introduce myself as Pamela, but still it gets shortened to Pam. Perhaps it is because I'm of short stature myself, or maybe I just don't look like a Pamela. On occasion I get “Pammy”, which usually sets my teeth on edge. There are few people walking the face of this earth that can call me “Pammy” and not cause feelings of immense hostility.

I have tried to correct people over time and still I end up as Pam, so I have given up trying to correct people. The other day, I was scrolling through my facebook (as we are all want to do) and I paused at one of my friends posts. She is an amazing individual, author and avid reader. Quite often I take pause to read her words, savour them, and embrace them as they seep into my eyes and warm my soul. I had to tell her how much I enjoyed reading her daily posts, kinda like my compliments to the chef. I was actually surprised that she addressed me as Pamela and had to thank her again. It seems a silly thing to be impressed by, but when the general public can't seem to get something so simple as my name correctly I have to stop and take pause.

To name a thing gives it power. With out a name things are left to the persons imagination. You can say, I bought my love a bunch of flowers and it doesn't hold as much value as I bought my love a dozen long stemmed red roses.

I was the baby with no name. I was adopted at 7 months of age. They cooed things like, precious and princess in my tiny little ear. The stroked the hair on my head and called me pumpkin. (probably due to the orange colour of my hair.) My grandmother decided that after a few days with no name that my parents should call me Pamela.

In my mind when you shorten my name it says to me that you simply can not bother with extra syllables, the extra letters, that I'm not worth that effort of two vowels and a consonant. I don't mind the nick names that people give me, and sure enough I give nicknames too, but to automatically shorten my name is presumptuous and mildly insulting. I tend not to correct people when they use Pam incorrectly, for some reason it sets people on edge. I'm pretty easy going and if they can't fit their lips around the extra letters really it isn't my problem. So rarely that I am addressed properly that it's almost foreign to hear my actual name.

To name a thing is to give it a place in life, power and existence. My name is Pamela.