No, This was NOT because I am Blonde.

When we first decided to join the church I referred to in my last post, they had a dinner one night at the church for the new members. 

While few of our friends can believe it, Bob and I are actually still shy, especially when we are in a big crowd of people we don't really know.  One on one, no one can detect it, but it's really difficult when we are invited to a group where we don't know anyone or only know a handful of people.

So we go to this dinner and just inside the front door was a table where we were to write out our names on nametags.  Having to write a nametag evokes some bad demons on those of us that have that closet shyness that they desperately try to hide from everyone. It immediately signals that "fight or flight" syndrome meaning that to stay after that point will mean we actually have to speak and think of something to say

There were a couple dozen tables past that where we were to sit.  As I was starting to fill out my nametag, Troy suddenly appeared and he and Bob were talking away. 

I handed Bob the marker to write his name and he told me to just fill it out for him.  He does that alot, so I didn't think much about it.  I was listening to Bob and Troy and I began to fill out his nametag without actually paying much attention to what I was doing. 

If you've ever had a little bit of shyness (which as I said, people find it really hard to believe either of us are now), you'll realize that you spend alot of time worrying about where you'll sit, who you will sit with, what you will say.  It's silly, really.  I compensate for it by trying my darndest to remember that everyone likes it if you just ask them questions about themselves and you just start a conversation.

It's still not something I like to do. 

So, anyway.  I'm listening to Bob and Troy and I'm wondering where we'll sit and if we'll just be out of place and etc, etc etc.

Then I hear Bob ask me slowly (and not exactly quietly), "W H A T  

A R E  Y O U  D O I N G?"   I'm confused by his question and then I look down at where he is looking, which is where I am writing his nametag. 

I swear, I looked at my hand like it was an alien hand or possessed (which isn't a good thing in a church).

At the tips of my fingers was the nametag and a black marker with some weird hand that had just written:

G e o    

and the possessed hand was just about to write an R.  I was writing the name George on Bob's nametag.  I'm pretty certain that my eyes bugged out of my head kinda like that Twilight Zone(movie) episode of the creature on the wing of the plane. 

Let me be clear. 

I really don't know a George.  Well at least not for years and years.  I don't work with a George, we have no George's in our family.  I have no freakin' clue as to why my weird possessed hand was writing the name George. 

We ended up sitting with Pastor Jesse and his wife for the dinner and we were to tell things about ourselves (which is also a horrible thing to have to do for us closet shy people).  So I told the story about the George nametag.  The quickest way for me to get over feeling awkward in front of people I don't know is to tell a ridiculous story about myself (you would think that would be the opposite, wouldn't you?)

So Pastor Jesse loved calling Bob George after that.  It was one of the first times we had interacted alot with Pastor Jesse other than him welcoming us to the church every Sunday and it was quite an ice breaker.  And since the story got around quickly, many people couldn't remember what his real name was.