Shmuel and Shmuella

You won’t believe this but there are actual, real people in the world who believe that mermaids exist despite there being no evidence what-so-ever as proof. But this post isn’t about whether mermaids are real or not, it’s about the new names I’m giving the children at my house.

If they’re out there, they should say “Hi.”

Sunday night, the entire family went upstairs to bed. Ed and I have a TV in our room but the children do not. We swore years ago that our children would never have a TV in their bedrooms. How the heck were we supposed to know that there would be computers and iPods and Gameboys and cell phones and on and on and on??? But, we are people of our word – there are no TVs in those rooms!!

Anyway, that’s not what the blog is about either.

The blog is about the mayor of a seaside town in Israel that is offering one million dollars to anyone who can provide absolute proof that mermaids exist. But the million dollars is not what this blog is about either. The mayor’s first name was Shmuel. SHMUEL. I’m telling the truth here. Had Ed and I known that Shmuel was available for use to name a child we would have not hesitated.

I shout across the hall to the boy who lives at our house – “Guess what? I found you a new name!” I can hear his eyes

The original Shmuel Sisso

But he was wide awake and decided to play along. “What are you watching over there?”

I shout back “Mermaids – The New Evidence”.

He says “I’m going to sleep now because this can’t end well.”

I say “Not until you hear your new name — SHMUEL!”

I hear the girl laughing because she’s not asleep either.

“Go to sleep SHMUELLA!”

Now no one’s laughing and we still don’t have any evidence about the mermaids.