My given name is unusual. It is Euvah, pronounced YOU-vuh. There is a story about it, and not one that thrills me, but it is a part of who I am. My mom, Karen, was married to my dad, Boyd. He was trying to be a photographer when I was born. You would think there would be a million pictures of me with my mom… but I only have one, somewhere in this mountain of pics everyone thinks I need.
But instead, I have a hundred or so pics of a woman dad knew named… you guessed it… Euvah. Euvah Richards holding Euvah Gail. A lot! Of Euvah and Euvah pics. A lot!
I assumed that it was another one of my father’s mistresses, but I recently asked my Uncle Danny if that was true. He got quiet, thought about it a bit, and then told me that he thought dad was infatuated with Euvah R, but she never responded, so he didn’t think that she was his mistress. But who would hang around a married man and hold his newborn baby for hundreds of pics - and why?!?
So I am either named after his infatuation or his mistress. Momma said he absolutely insisted I be named Euvah. She had chose another name to go with Gail, but he had no part of it. So I am Euvah… baddoova whatta cadoova… Gail (I love)… you know my last name… and from you know where. I never was given the gift of thought until Steve and I had been married many years, so I never even considered going by Gail until it was far too late.
Pretty much all people with my married last name in the south are black, so reading my first and last name, people are startled when the see ME! 🤣
This picture… is me on a rug that I still own. I wish I could say it was this fuzzy though… 🤣
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