Tom/Bob

Recently I've begun signing my blogs Tom/Bob. While some readers will know what that means I figured I should explain to those who don't know me with the youth group.

About a year and a half ago (Spring 2004) I really began IMing people on IM pretty regularly. While I've had an account for years (about 7, since my London trip in college) I didn't know very many people who had IM. Mostly a few people at work, so we only talked when we needed a quick question answered.

Anyway, in the Spring I was on IM and got an IM from someone I didn't know. It went something like this:

Them: Hi, do you know Bob?
Me: Huh?
Them: Do you know Bob Carl?
Me: What? Who is this?
Them: Do you know Bob Carl?
Me: Seriously, who is this? What are you talking about?

At about this time a completely different screen name I've never seen comes on and goes something like this:

Them: Do you know Bob Carl?
Me: What? Who the heck is this?
Them: Do you know Bob, Bob Carl?
Me: Ok, I'm beginning to think this is some IM spam. I'm thinking of warning and blocking you.
Them: It's Bob, Bob Carl
Them: Hahaha, It's Liz and Tegan.

From that point I began being called Bob by the two of them and their other friends. It's now stuck so hard that everyone in 9th grade or below calls me Bob. Even to the point that some parents don't even know what my real name is (for one family I only knew the daughter's nickname for about 6 months and her parents only knew me as Bob).

While I've told people that I now respond to Bob as much as I do Tom I wasn't completely positive about this until our Hershey Park trip. We got in the park and everyone scattered to the wind. I went a main eating area with about 50 - 75 people in different lines and all of a sudden I perked up. Someone was yelling Bob and I heard it over the complete din of the eatery.

Also during the day I thought I heard people call Tom a lot, and kept popping my head around looking. If you think about it though, Tom and Mom sound pretty darned similar, and eventually I just stopped looking. So, you could almost say that I respond better to Bob than I do to Tom at this point.

Anyway, after the mission trip everyone (the other church and even some of our adult leaders) were calling me Tom/Bob (or TomBob). Since the event really changed me so much I really began adopting the name more. Accepting and really enjoying having something unique and special.

Ok, this was a long explanation to a simple thing. But there you go. I'm adopting Tom/Bob at this point. Since so many people use the name I doubt it will change. 10 years from now it may not exist, but for the moment it's a great key to hanging on to some of the most amazing times and memories I've ever had.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 8:37 AM