This has entered my mind enough over the years, but lately it’s been closer to the front of my thoughts. It boggles my mind, and has raised my curiosity to an all time high it seems. As a quick background, I was adopted in Augusta, Georgia on August 6th, 1962 at 3 days old. I lived in Georgia until I was 12 when my father retired from the Civil Service @ Ft. Gordon Georgia, and we moved to Florida, like all good retirees do.
I remember as a kid getting in quite a bit of trouble in 1st and 2nd grades for my spelling; it wasn’t that I was a bad speller, but spelt everything the British way. I was 5 years old when entered 1st grade the first time. (I did it twice) I spelled words like colour instead of color, flavour instead of flavor, and on and on. Now I know I had no immediate British heritage in my family, the Normans. I also remember my mother teaching me to spell and she certainly did not spell that way, but I did.
I also remember telling friends i was an Anglo-Saxon, which I’ve no idea where I’d have gotten that term at 5 years old in Georgia. My dad was a History major in college, but I don’t recall him ever using that term. He did have this thing though; No matter what questions I had for him, his response was always the same. Example; Me; “hey dad, what is 11 x 63? Dad; “The Normans invaded England in 1066!’ Me; “Dad, what is anthropology?” Dad; “Son, the Normans invaded England in 1066!’ It mattered not what the question was about, the answer was always the same. It was a bit frustrating at times, but I always had mom as a net thankfully! Now that I’m in my early 50’s, and both of my parents have passed this World now, I’m curious about things.
Another interesting thing (to me) is my name. The paternal family name was George William Norman, and since my Dad was the oldest of his brothers, that name was reserved for him to use when he had his first son. Well my mother had told me there were way too many ‘Georges’ in the family, so she kept the initials (GWN), but changed the George to Gary. (This pissed of my Dad’s mother for sure, but I digress). Now my three names all have ‘war’ or ‘fighting’ type meanings. Gary = helmet, William = spear bearer, and Norman of course means = warrior, man from the north, which would pertain to both Anglo-Saxons and the Normans.
I’ve mentioned this lately to several of my friends, and they’ve mentioned ‘cell memory’ and ‘past lives’ stuff, which is very interesting as I still cannot figure out where I’d gotten that spelling from, nor the term Anglo-Saxon.
It may come to me one day eh?!
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