Middle Name

My first name comes from a crystal silverware commercial my mom saw on TV when she was pregnant with me, but that's not my story today. Most people are a bit skeptical when they hear my middle name. They think I am making it up, or better yet, trying to make them guess. It always makes me smile when I tell them and see their reactions. You see, my middle name is just a letter. T. Just one little letter, which just so happens to be my favorite letter, if I had to choose one. There is a story behind that middle name of mine.

I am the third oldest child with two older sisters. When I was born, my parents had split decisions on how many children they would have after me, so they talked about what to name me. My dad's first name starts with a T, and my mom's first name (or at least what she goes by most of the time) starts with a T. The story goes that my dad didn't think he was ever going to have any boys, and my mom didn't think she was ever going to have any more girls, so they decided to put the letter T for an initial as my middle name as a sort of reminder for them both.

Needless to say my parents had seven boys and one more girl after me, making a total of eleven kids in our family. The middle name story is sweet, but didn't really hold true after all those kids. In high school when I got tired of people asking me what the T stood for I decided to become a bit more creative and I told people that it stood for "The Greatest". For some reason it stuck. My friends would pass me notes in school addressed to Crystal the Greatest. I've had autographs of famous performers address them to Crystal the Greatest and I once even sang in public under the name of Crystal the Greatest. To this day, I am still fondly known as Crystal the Greatest to my friends and family. It makes me smile.