Myrtle's Gift

In the year since dad's death, some unexpected items have turned up around the house as mom sorts through his belongings. Among them are a pair of new-in-the-box river waders, countless pocket knives, and someone's gold crown (as in dental work, not royalty). "What do I DO with all this?" Mom often asks. Most of the pocket knives went as family Christmas presents. The gold crown went for scrap ($21!). The river waders are still up for grabs.

Another strange item was a ring. Mom asked me to look at it. "Have you ever seen this before?" she asked. It was a man's ring with a black Trojan or Roman soldier on it. Not my area of expertise.

"No." I said, "Where did you find it?"

"It was in the safe deposit box. I haven't been in the safe deposit box in decades."

I rolled the ring between my fingers. It felt light, but looked heavy - the discolored band may or may not be gold, and my guess is that the engraved Trojan is hematite. When I flipped it over, I noticed some engraving on the inside. "Oh look!" I exclaimed. "It says MRP to LJU 12-25-45! Aunt Myrtle gave this to Uncle Lloyd for Christmas after the war."

Uncle Lloyd was my dad's uncle. He was the eldest of 5, born on a Lampeter farm in 1910. He joined the army in 1941, and fought with the Allies in Europe. I need to read the yellowed newspaper clippings for the whole story, but Uncle Lloyd was wounded while rescuing other wounded soldiers under German artillery fire in Belgium or France in 1943. He was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his actions. Uncle Lloyd's sister gave birth to a son in 1943, my dad, and named him after her heroic brother.

Uncle Lloyd in Europe during the war, mounted on weaponry. Weiner jokes are timeless.

Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Myrtle in Pennsylvania, date unknown.

Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Myrtle were 36 when they married, and had no children. I don't have any specific memories of Uncle Lloyd, who died in 1981, but I do remember Aunt Myrtle. She was tall, gangly, cheerful and always wearing cat-eye glasses. She outlived her husband by 13 years.

This 60 year old ring - a gift between lovers - has perhaps spent half of its life in a safe deposit box. But this week, I wore it to work. A vintage accessory last worn by a World War II decorated veteran saw the light of day.

It's All in the Name

<A story from 2011. As always, names have been changed to protect the innocent: Me.>

I got married and made Gershwin my last name. Shannon Gershwin. I kept my middle name the same, and moved my maiden name to the middle. Shannon Lee Jones Gershwin. Simple enough, yes?

Not at the DMV.

I had to renew my driver's license. When I changed my name and changed my license to match in 2006, there was no problem. Today, Mr. Carter, the DMV agent, had issues with my name. 

Mr. C: (studying computer screen) There you are. I couldn't find you in my database under Gershwin.  You are under Jones.

SG: But my last name is Gershwin, not Jones.

Mr. C: Jones-Gershwin then?

SG: No, Gershwin. Here is my license.

Mr. C: Well we can put the hyphen on the new license.

SG: There is no hyphen. There's only 1 last name. Gershwin.

Mr. C: But in the database it will automatically hyphen because you can't have 2 last names in the database.

SG: I don't have 2 last names. I just have 1. Gershwin.

Mr. C: Do you have your marriage certificate?

SG: No. Since my current license has been correct for the past 5 years with my married name, it didn't occur to me that I would need it today.

Mr. C: Well, I have to verify the name change.

SG: They verified the name change in 2006. My current license is correct. I don't understand what is happening.

Mr. C: Well the hyphen is going to be in there.

SG: Why? It's not in my current license. There is no hyphen. My name will be wrong on the license if there is a hyphen.

Mr. C: I can't change the database without proof of your name change.

SG: But I didn't change my name since 2006 when they correctly printed my license. I don't understand why it wasn't a problem then. Please don't make me come back on another day.

Mr. C: Hey Judy, can you come over here for a second??

Mr. Carter gets Judy involved, who showed him how to move my names around. Then he sends me to the photo lady. The photo lady gives me my print-out. With a hyphen.

SG: Excuse me, Mr. Carter?

Mr. C: Yes?

SG: There's a hyphen.

Mr. C: You said there was no hyphen!

SG: Right. I mean there's a hyphen here on the printout.

Mr. C: I took that dang hyphen out. Lemme see that...

And back to his desk we go. He summons Judy and fixes the hyphen. Again.

SG: Are you going to charge me another $32.00?

Mr. C: Not unless you give me any more lip.

SG: Thanks.

Mr. C: You have a nice day young lady. 

Back I go to the photo lady. All is resolved. From the DMV, I head across town to the travel agent, Mary, who needs to see our passports before booking international airline tickets. I give her the passports.

Mary: So now do you go by Gershwin, or Jones-Gershwin?

SG: Gershwin. Just Gershwin.

Mary: Okay, I just have to make sure your airline tickets match your passport exactly.

SG: Well the passport says Shannon Lee Jones Gershwin, so does it matter?

Mary: What did we do for your trip to Ireland last year?

SG: I don't know, but it worked.

Mary: Well your credit card says Shannon Jones Gershwin and your AAA card says Shannon L. Gershwin.

SG: A lot of American documentation doesn't accept 2 middle names. It's not a problem in Europe, I guess I should move there. I wonder if George H. W. Bush ever went through this.

Mary: I'll look up your file from the trip to Ireland.

SG: That would be great.

Mary: So why does Marty's passport have an R for a middle name instead of his full middle name?  That's highly unusual.

SG: I don't know why it's like that. Nobody called Interpol on our honeymoon, so I guess it's no problem. 

Mary: Why did they put Marty instead of Martin? They aren't supposed to allow nicknames on passports.

SG: It's not a nickname. His name is Marty. Just Marty. It's not Martin. Birth certificate says Marty...

And so went my day.