The Name

It all started with a series of phone calls. Well, it really started some years back when my darling young wife decided to name our first son after me - not content to just give him my first name, she gave him my full and exact name.

Now we skip over a sizable chunk of history, during which time I become addicted to genealogy and also become active in the genealogy community, to the current time, where divorce, the bad economy, restaurants closing, new opportunities opening in our area, etc., etc., led to the son of the same name, now a chef and father of two, coming with his sons to live with his mother and me.

Now back to the series of phone calls. The eldest grandson, who seems to suspect that the time-space continuum might be interrupted should the phone ring more than twice is often first to answer, and a conversation like this one would usually ensue:
 Grandson:  "Hello?"

Caller: "Hi, is Jack there?
Grandson: "Which Jack would you like to speak to?"
Caller: "Jack Butler"
Grandson:  "Which Jack Butler? We have two."
Caller, starting to get flustered: "The one who uses this phone number."
Grandson: "Uhmm, the older one or the younger one? Jack Sr. or Jack Jr.?"
Caller: "Look, I need to talk to the Jack Butler who does genealogy!"
Grandson: "Okay, hold on a moment."

Eventually coming to the realization that callers seldom desired to play 20 questions, the grandson soon evolved his technique:
Caller: "Hi, could I speak to Jack?"
Grandson: "Did you want Chef Jack or Genealogy Jack?"
Caller: "Genealogy Jack"

And so the name evolved. My wife thinks that it is a little bit too cutesy. So be it. Genealogy Jack is in the house, where he will attempt to share tales of genealogy and occasionally try to make a point or two.