Here’s the deal with George: He’s a jerk.
He refused to come to our wedding, to Athena’s wedding, and the babies’ births and baptisms. For the last five years or so, he sent no birthday cards, no Christmas cards, nothing. It’s like his kids didn’t exist for him anymore. He would tell anyone at the Greek hangouts who asked him about it that he wanted his kids to change their names so they would no longer be associated with him. He is a small, stubborn man.
Even when he was talking to his kids, he was barely there. An occasional dinner and birthday and Christmas cards were about it. There are plenty of examples of his jerkitude throughout Athena and Dimitri’s childhood. I’m sure there’s a lot of good memories here and there, too, don’t get me wrong; but at his worst he was an incredibly absent father and an abusive husband. After Sophie divorced him, he just sort of checked out of the kids’ lives. And yet, for some reason, we (Athena, Sophie, and I) felt that he needed to meet the grandkids. We thought that meeting them would somehow, I don’t know, sucker him into talking to his kids again. How could he not? These babies are cuter than shit. They’d charm anyone.
So now, after having dinner with him once, he demands that we name a potential male grandchild after him, in accordance with Greek tradition. Aside from the moral objections I have with that, there still is the issue of The Agreement.
Dim and I made The Agreement before we knew the sex of the Bean. Simply stated, it was: If we ever have a girl, it will be named Sophia, after his mom, and if we ever have a boy, it will be named Chris, after my dad. This was the GREAT Compromise, since, while we love our parents dearly, I was not fond of the name Sophie and he was not fond of the name Chris. But this was the agreement we reached. It was relatively easy to make, since George was not talking to his kids at the time, and showed no signs of letting up.
Now, Dim is telling me that if we don’t name a boy George, that he (George) will definitely never speak to us again. Part of me thinks “Wow, that’s a shame. A petty, idiotic shame, but a shame.” The other part of me thinks “Good riddance!”
Just name him Chris George? Yeah, thought of that one. It’s a no go. Second place is as good as last, as far as George is concerned.
Just have a girl, you say? Nay, nay. He has already hinted that Georgia (In Greek it’s actually much more beautiful, your-YHEE-ah,but in white-people-speak, it’s a damn state) is an acceptable alternative for the penis challenged. Also, I want a girl to have the middle name Ann, after my grandmother, and Georgia Ann? Lord, no. People will constantly ask her for cornbread recipes.
So the issue boils down to this: We can do what he wants, and keep in contact with him, or don’t, and don’t.
Hence the sigh.