Name Confusion

 Name Confusion

I don’t have a Facebook page or do social media, but the wife of my youngest son gave me her old IPad with numerous new programs and apps. She had set up an Instagram account for me with the name “Hot House Orchid.” This is a nickname given to me since I quit fishing—I turned from a rough and tough fisherman to a hot house Orchid.  

I decided to see what the program was all about. I knew I didn’t know what I was doing, but that was okay; I’d learn. I wrote comments to people I knew. A few days passed, and I opened my account to find some friends hadn’t heard the joke and wondered who the warm greetings were coming from. I had to explain who Hot House Orchid was.

Instagram gives you all sorts of names or other accounts…with pictures so small it’s hard to recognize the people. I saw one that was IPClake. My husband’s name is Clake, and I have never seen anyone else with the name so I was curious. The tiny picture of her was even more unrecognizable because she shared the screen with her infant son. The baby looked like it could be related, but then all babies that size look similar. I clicked on the button to follow her. I hoped to find out if her last name was really Clake and see if there was a connection in the distant past.

Days passed before I signed in and saw her response, which was “Who is this?”

Apparently before you can follow someone that person has to give their okay. I didn’t know that. I was embarrassed, thinking I had entered her space without permission. I wrote back a long apologetic message that I was sorry to have invaded her space. I pointed out that I’d noticed what I thought was her last name and that is my husband’s name, and I’d never seen anyone outside of my family with that name. I was curious and would love to find out.

When I checked a few days later, I found her message.

“It’s me Laura.”

“Sam’s wife.”

Now I was really embarrassed. Sam is my oldest son. I had mistaken the L for an I and didn’t make the connection. Once I recovered, I laughed for hours.

Kathy Halgren is a Washington resident who has written a book about her exciting time as a female fisherman.

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