Two of Me?

i did it, i finally bit the bullet and created my own blog! i realized that the few blogs i wrote for my myspace account were really run to write and great practice for my creative writing skillsJ

so, as my first blog entry i thought i'd post something i found incredibly interesting! when i was child i wasn’t all that much of a creative kid. so many of my friends were into imaginative and creative things, but for me that wasn’t so. no imaginary friends existed, like so many kids of my friends had, or any imaginary places to go…i was different.

a few years after my mom pasted away i began to wonder what i had heard so many other people around my talk about…there being two of everyone. I wasn’t really interested in finding my “double” but was more inquisitive as to whether or not out there in the great unknown, “could there possibly being a duplicate of my mom?” afterall, my father jokingly insists that this world is not ready for two of me! (mind you this idea of looking for my “other” mom was at a point in time when i was mad at everyone and everything.) needless to say, i have grown up, become wiser, and realized that my previous preconceived notion that duplicates of people existed was completely absurd. or so i thought!

imagine my surprise when was playing around on google and happened to type in my name and much to my surprise there was a link stating something about tammy schmuck's 3rd graders! what? is this for real? this can’t be right, my 3rd graders…seriously people WHAT are you talking about? as my mind started to wonder, could they have possibly posted something about me on the internet from a few years ago, ok more like 8 years ago, when i was a full time sunday school teacher? see as a requirement to graduate from my beloved saint thomas more, i know it’s odd a protestant girl going to a catholic high school but whatever…ask my father, and as if i didn’t have my fill of trying to be converted and all i went on to a catholic college, we were required to do community service and the majority of these community service hours had to be considered “religious.” therefore, i decided that i would teach sunday school or a year at the church i attended. anyway, i had to write a paper about the community service project i had done. after turning in this paper i was approached by some advisory lady and asked if it would be ok if they published some of what i wrote in some catholic magazine, so i agreed. i began wondering could this article featuring excerpts from the before mentioned paper be on the internet or featured in some big world catholic magazine? more than a bit curious, and slightly freaked out, i click on the link and before me is this article in "the fergus falls daily journal!" it appears as though there is another tammy schmuck who teaches at ashby elementry...i have no clue where that is.

for those of you who aren't intrigued by this madness, please let me explain. believe it or not there aren't that many "schmuck's" in this world, or that i have stumbled across. on a rather long side note, yes, i am aware of my last name and for those of you who are chuckling right now, i am completely aware that it is a word listed in webster's dictionary and happens to be referenced in several movies (ie. grumpier old men is the first to come to mind). while some of you may be wondering if i ever was teased about my last name, i will address that now. a little in high school, i maintain that the majority of my high school class was self-absorbed and not the brightest box of light bulbs i have ever seen; however, there were a few that never seemed to let it go. as a matter of fact, for the longest time my nickname was "schmuck." then there was college, where it when never fail that on the first day of class when the prof would take roll that he/she reached my name, looked puzzled, said "tammy schmuck" then proceeded to ask if the pronunciation was correct amidst numbers scoffs and chuckles in the background. of course, i had to say yes, seriously what was i going to do deny being myself? i know that that isn't nearly as tragic as peter denying Christ three times, but i my mind would be a serious insult to God and His decision to create me...so i did what i had to do. after a while and about two semesters of this same ritualistic sequence of events, i got smart and when i became bombarded with questions, comments like "man i feel sorry for you", and scoffs i started to respond by saying "thankfully i am single and hopefully will get married someday and will change my last name. and for those of you were wondering no, i will not be 'one of those woman' who insists on a last name hyphenation." or i would say something to the effect of, “with a name like schmuck, it’s got to be good. imagine what you are missing out on!” ok, i confess so i stole the line from the smucker’s jelly commercial and tweaked it to make it my own! anyway, back on track there really aren’t that many schmuck’s in the US, maybe my name is one of those foreign last names that is the US equivalent of smith or olsen i don’t know, maybe some day i will go to germany and check it out.

after I had made my little discovery that two tammy schmuck’s do, in fact, exists i called up my dad on the phone and asked him if he remembers telling me that the world couldn’t handle two of me because the joke is on him this time, not me because there really are two tammy schmuck’s! his reply, “really, are you serious? you have to be kidding me!”