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As he does our taxes, he also manages to create wonderful small talk and tell me stories from his life. His son now lives in the house he grew up in. When Mr. Thomas was a boy growing up there, they never locked the door - they didn't even own a key to their house! Although his son now owns a key, the door is still never locked. That's part of the beauty of Smalltown, USA here in the Midwest. Crime is extremely low and trust is not completely lost. It's not uncommon here in the dead of winter to see empty cars running with the heat on while their owners are inside doing some shopping. We know several people personally who always leave their cars unlocked - with the keys in the ignition. But, I digress...
Last year as Mr. Thomas was preparing our taxes I noticed the name plate sitting on his desk. It said, Thomas T. Thomas. I thought that name was a little humorous, to say the least, and wondered what the middle T stood for. So, for my own amusement and to help pass the time I attempted to insert different middle names; Thomas Taylor Thomas, Thomas Travis Thomas, Thomas Talbot Thomas, Thomas Tanner Thomas, Thomas Tyrone Thomas, Thomas Theodore Thomas, Thomas Terrence Thomas, Thomas Thaddeus Thomas, Thomas Thurston Thomas, Thomas Timothy Thomas, Thomas..."Wait. Wouldn't it be funny if is name were Thomas Thomas Thomas?". My new mission was to scour the 50 gazillion award certificates and diplomas, certifications, yada, yada, yada plastered on those old wood panelled walls to see if I could find one listing his name in it's entirety.
I don't know how long it took me to find a document with Mr. Thomas' full name, but, find one I did. There, in black ink printed on white paper the middle name mystery was solved. My nice tax man's full name is Thomas Thomas Thomas. I kid you not, people! This tid bit of information raised a whole new set of questions for me. Namely, why? Why did his parents give him 3 identical names? Did he get made fun of in school?
I would love to have been able meet his parents. I figure they were either gypsies with a really wacky sense of humor or had more children than the Duggars and were just at a plain loss for any more names since people just didn't use things like Apple and Pilot Inspector to name their children eighty some odd years ago.
I'll probably never know the 'why' behind Mr. Thomas T. Thomas' name conundrum. But, I do know this - he is a super nice guy with great old stories to tell and does a slam-up job on our taxes. I'm sure I'll be seeing him again next year.
In closing, let me offer a piece of advice to those of you who are expecting or ever plan on having children; don't name your kid 'T to the third power'. Get online and find a baby name. Give it your maiden name or the city you were born in. Make one up - Aqua Pencil, Cherry Globe, Morning Nausea, Keptme Puking, Mademe Peemyself... You get the idea.
Our last name is Moore. When I was pregnant we considered Eden Out for a girl and Noah Lot for a boy. Be creative. I'm sure you can think of something. Just don't use your last name for the baby's first and middle also - well, that is unless you're gypsies with a wacky sense of humor...