Our family has always been a fairly traditional
lot, and have never been ones to make up names. That’s not to say that there
was no appreciation for the unusual though, hence, the name “Chenia.”
The story goes that the first Chenia’s mother gave
birth, opened the Bible, and the first place her finger fell was on this
particular name. I did some searching recently, and only found the name once in
an obscure translation. That exercise resulted in some good natured teasing from
my cousin David that amounted to “Who in their right mind would actually
research something like that!?” My cousin Mary summed it up perfectly. "Fanny Jane had just given birth, at home, in 1869! Cut her some slack!!" That left subsequent generations to make up a good
story about it. We’re a long line of story tellers, and like nothing better
than to edit and exaggerate to make it tell better!
In any case, the first Chenia in our family, had
the middle initial A. and he put the name on the map. Several Chenia’s have
followed and proudly carried the name. (We pronounce it ‘Chee-Nee’. Just so
you’ll know…..) And I hope it’ll be used again in future generations, because I
loved my own uncle Chenia, and would love to see the legacy continue.
So…….. what does all this have to do with naming
my dog? Was it named ‘Chenia?’ Of course not! The dog was a female! Giving
gender specific names to opposite gender dogs didn’t start until several years
later for me. I was only 17 and hadn’t really found my groove as yet.
I purchased this particular dog with my own money,
and no input from siblings or parents. (Much to my parents chagrin, I’m sure!)
I arrived at my folks front door with a cute black puppy that I’m fairly
certain was possessed. Her favorite thing to do was tear from one end of the
dark colored couch to the other, in a room lit only by an old TV, all the while
growling and barking. All you could see
were white teeth, and a little bit of the whites of her eyes. What do you name
a dog like that? My dad regularly called her ‘Beelzebub.’ Somehow, I didn’t
think that was quite right for her.
So, I loaded her in my ’67 Chevy and took a drive
out to my Uncle Chenia’s shop. His business involved a lot of metal and grease.
I’m not totally sure what he produced, but his shop was fascinating. I knew my
dad was there, so it seemed like a good place to be that afternoon. Plus, said
puppy had doodied in my pink bedroom slipper in the back seat of the car so I
needed to do a bit of cleaning and deodorizing. Then Chenia saw the puppy, and
asked her name.
I was trying desperately to come up with an
appropriate name for her. She was black, with a fluffy curly coat. ‘Blackie?’
‘Fluffy?’ Ummmmm, no. Nothing fit. And then Chenia came up with ‘Ebony.’ Perfect!
In fact, when I bought her, she shared a
cage with her brother that was her negative image and completely white. If I
could just get back to the pet store before her brother was sold, ‘Ebony and
Ivory’ would be awesome! But alas the parentals put their collective feet down.
And so, ‘Ebony’ it was.
I don’t know why I bothered, though. Our pets have
NEVER been called by their given names. Our favorite nickname for her ended up
being ‘Fling.’ No. I won’t tell you why.
But I will tell you she was an amazing dog. She
grew to be about 25 pounds but had the heart of a St. Bernard and the courage
of a Doberman. Her favorite thing to do was chase things. And her favorite
thing to chase was frog jerky. Did you know that when frogs sit on the sidewalk
and don’t move as it heats up they turn into jerky? Frog jerk was easy to find
so we didn’t have to carry a ball with us when we walked her. Perhaps we should
start a new line of pet treats………………..
But it is just as the Scriptures say,
"What God has planned
for people who love Him
is more than eyes have seen
or ears have heard.
It has never even entered our minds!"
1 Cor. 2:9
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