2009: An Asian Odyssey

It’s Official. June 13, 2009

The results are in.

After two tumultuous weeks of campaigning, speaking with constituents, hearing opinions and suggestions from across the globe – we finally had a winner.

Or so I thought.

Once the voting was completed I approached Bob to discuss his name change to ensure that he was comfortable with the selection prior to informing his parents. He immediately warmed to the new name, but was also quite smitten with another alternative. Sean.

I was both devastated and intrigued. Even though Sean was never even a candidate, I immediately had a connection with the name as it is the same first name as my good friend Sean who along with his lovely wife Erin (whom we regularly refer to as the Mulloskey’s on this blog) inspired us to go on this adventure in the first place. They spent close to two years in Seoul and were the first ones who informed us of the possibility of naming children, so this would be a fitting tribute.

It had all come down to this. Sean vs Jack.

My biggest concern was that if we went with “Sean”, how would this affect the legitimacy of this blog? We had just completed an impressive campaign and received an astounding 44 votes, with 18 of them in favour of Jack. Not to mention the fact that I spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out how to insert the stupid voting buttons into the post. I wasn’t about to have this all go to waste because some kid decided to suggest his own new name. Who does he think he is?

After taking a few minutes to compose myself and giving the children something else to colour, I turned my attention back to Bob and the issue in question.

Jordan: So what do you want your new name to be?

Bob: Jack…Sean…Sean…Jack.

Jordan: You can only pick one name. Which one do you like better?

Bob: Sean…Jack.

At this point I wrote both names on the board and asked him which one he preferred?

Bob: May I please go to the bathroom?

Jordan: Fine.

Even the rest of the class was torn. I asked the four remaining students which name they preferred for Bob. The results?

Jack – 2

Sean – 2

At this point, I had no where else to turn. I wrote the parents a letter informing them that I had selected two names and that I was leaving it up to them to decide. I didn’t get that much sleep that night but when I arrived back in class in the morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that Bob’s name was no longer on the board. It had been replaced with his new name.

Jack.

It’s been almost two weeks since we instituted the new name and it hasn’t been easy. I must have still called him Bob at least 10 times in those first couple of days and was often corrected by the other students. This past week I was much more comfortable but did have a few instances where I referred to him as “B0..Jack” or “Bjack” which the other children think is hysterical.

The most important thing is that he has really taken to the name and immediately corrects anyone who refers to him by his old name. I think I’ll always remember him as “Bob” but Jack is growing on me pretty quickly. In honour of this historic occasion, I’ve included below a video from my archive of some footage of Bob back in the day (about 2 months ago). Stay tuned for the end of the video when he lands a perfect cartwheel through a minefield of debris on the carpet. He’s the best.