Macy Elizabeth Wadian

Families and names

By Jerry Wadian

jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

When my son, Taylor, got married to Tammy Sonnentag in June of 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio, there was a discussion of names to use. Since she already had a number of scholarly articles published – very important in academia (she teaches psychology at Xavier University) – using her maiden name seemed a good idea. There also was the possibility of the rather ponderous, Sonnentag-Wadian, or just plain Wadian.

  Now Taylor, who inherited my slightly left-of-plumb gene, came up with an interesting solution: the Wadentags! Fortunately that’s one idea that didn’t get too far – at least, I hope it didn’t go too far but you can’t be sure exactly what kids are really up to. However, the name remains a standing family joke.

  Well, the Wadentags   have added more name problems to the family tree after having a bouncing 6.48-pound baby girl last week. 

  Once again, the issue of naming and the possible disastrous side effects thereof came up.

  I knew they had a short list of girls’ names, and but they were waiting for the actual birth to see which one seemed to fit the delivered product best. 

That tickled my ESP sense of something-not-good lurking in the wings. I mean, one look at the new Miss Wadentag and I can see her going through life with the moniker “Oh my God, she looks like Taylor!”

  Fortunately for all concerned, Taylor and Tammy felt Macy Elizabeth Wadian fit the little rascal the best. That means we are the grandparents of the M&M kids: Macy and Max (Max is my daughter, Shena’s 1-year-old son).

  That should be the end of the column, but I just have to throw in one more little   tidbit. As I mentioned earlier, Tammy teaches social psych at Xavier. Taylor teaches social psych at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash.

  Guess which one has maternity leave?

  If you said Tammy, you probably forgot that Xavier is a private, Catholic university, i.e., as few of benefits as possible. Blue Ash is a public university, i.e., it has a union and therefore some nice benefits! 

  That’s right, when Tammy starts the new semester in January, Taylor will be able to stay home with Macy – you know, despite what Wisconsin says, unions can do some wonderful things. 

  Of course, if my son keeps mentioning his maternity leave to Tammy, he may get an even longer leave of absence after getting beaned by a passing pail of used diapers – according to Taylor, Macy seems well-schooled in that department.