My name is Michael Bee, or at least that's what's on my birth certificate. Some people tend to disagree. I can be Michael, Michael Bee, Mike, MichaelBee, or a few other variations. I don't care what I'm called, honestly. My name isn't important. It's the meaning that comes behind who calls me which one that I care about most.
For my mom it's "MICHAEL" after I haven't heard her calling me for the past few minutes (although we both have phones but she can't text me). If anybody calls me Mike around her, they're in for some death glares because "that's not your name." The worst is "MichaelBee!"; the space had the right idea to run because trouble is coming.
It's not always a bad thing, though. The parents of my friends from elementary school call me MichaelBee to this day, but without the aggression my mom uses when I'm in trouble. It was the best way for my coaches to distinguish me from other Michaels, who were clearly inferior and shouldn't think they would even be allowed to be me.
My high school friends call me Mike, which my mom has just recently learned. They used to call me Michael, until my friend told his parents who was coming over, referring to me as Mike, and they asked, "Who's Mike?". For some reason, that stuck with all of us, and I've been Mike ever since.
Somehow, Mike has variations, too. All because of the Hump Day commercials, I get into an Xbox Live Party with some of them and I hear "Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike" and I laugh every time. Mikey gets thrown in there occasionally, but that's only to make me mad.
I got to college and all of a sudden I was MB. One of my best friends was named Mike and it was MK and MB for a long time. Some of the friends I made during that time don't actually know my real name, they just know MB.
For the most part, I'm MikeBee. People at work have used it since I started and my broomball team finds it rolls off the tongue when calling for the ball or yelling at me for a bad shot. I think this one is my favorite so far. The people there have made my past year amazing and although MB is a classic, MikeBee is pretty great.
Each of my different names tells me a story from every part of my life. They all mean something different and bring back good and bad memories. Everybody has different names that tell different stories. What are yours?
