Chad Stephenson
Cary Academy
The Chad
The name so brief you barely have to open the
mouth to say it. The kind of name that if it is said in a crowd, it will
always draw your attention. It’s so powerful, yet so short, like a steam
locomotive going a short distance. As the trees listen to it, it catches
their attention like a bug
zapper draws the flies into its electric light. The kind of name that is
crisp and easy to say. Not as common as Josh and John. It is original but
not too strange. Others share the name, but not as proud as I. The kind that
makes you think how fascinating the name is when it is said. It’s not the
kind of name that make a bully pop in your head but the kind that is steady
and not too rushed.
The Chad. The name with infinite nicknames such as, Mad Chad, Chad the Dad, Chad the Lad, or the one my mother calls me, “Glad Chad”. The list could go on and on, but the most common is “The Chad”. The name that stands out more than an illuminated disco ball at a school dance
This wonderful name coming from what I always thought was a name picked out of the blue. Just whatever fit my last name, Stephenson. But my sister, who at the time was dating when I was born, was the one that named me. After one of her boyfriends at the time, Chad Guther. How could such a wonderful name come from a boyfriend who dumped her after I was born? At some times in my life it made me feel like a stranger in the family. I would think it came from an uncle, or great grandfather. A name that I inherited. But no, I had to be named after some lousy boyfriend that my sister dated. Don’t get me wrong, I love my name, but to think I inherited it from a boyfriend who so lucky to receive such a name, it was unsatisfying. A name that sounds like church bells ringing on a quiet Sunday morning, yet feels like rough sandpaper on a humid summer day.