Who, Me?

 I had just finished conversing with a neighbor, admiring the effort he was putting into moving sod from his back yard to a dumpster at the curb that would be hauled away once it was full. It was a quick catchup on a Sunday morning. I was on my way to do that exercise thing, and he obviously had a few more wheelbarrows to haul, so I wished him well, turned on my heel and started on my way with a tap on my headphones to return me to running mode. Over the roar of the music, I heard a voice cry out: "David!"

I stopped in my tracks. I turned around to see my neighbor's wife coming down their driveway. I poked my headphones again to silence them. "Yes?"

"Oh, you didn't have to stop. I just wanted to say hello." Which seemed expressly neighborly, and I felt a moment of embarrassment for not asking about her during my first interaction about moving sod. So I made some sort of grand gesture and called out.

"Hello!" And then there was nothing left to say unless we were going to discuss the relative uncomfortableness of the interaction. It wasn't until I was a block away that it occurred to me why it felt so odd to me. 

She called me "David." It is my name, after all. So why the sudden discomfort? Well, it stems from the reality in which I have placed myself for lo these many years. When introducing myself in public, I tend to defer to the more casual "Dave," especially when my last name doesn't make the cut. In a more professional setting, you might get the full "David Caven" experience. Put a handshake in there and you might get a James Bondian "Caven, David Caven." These days, when I hear "David," I assume it's one of the kids at school who has figured out that all us teachers have our first names printed on our mailboxes and nothing is more amusing than Mister Caven's first name. 

Or my mother is in the room. 

The only other place where both syllables get used on a regular basis is in print. This blog is written by David Caven. I show up online first and last. It is my nom de plume. It's my name. It's also the name of a few dozen others out there with access to Al Gore's Internet.

So, I guess you can understand my confusion.