Chatter

So I know in the “Getting to Know Me” tab I told a shortened version of how I got my name but I decided to post the full version- taken straight out of my 9 chapter memoir all about camp. I hope you enjoy! Oh and here is one of my favorite Chatter pictures from 2011!

The year was 2009. It was a rather warm night inside the tent with us four girls inside. We were in the camp session called “Pink Party”.  I had dragged my friend, Carly, to camp with me. Not because I needed to, I was a well-experienced camper at this point that didn’t need a built-in buddy, but because I thought she would enjoy it. Well, she was enjoying it, but at the same time, she was annoying me like crazy. I was glad we were sharing a tent with another buddy pair, Taylor and Cassie, because I didn’t think I could handle her for much longer. As the four of us got to know each other, we found out some creepily similar things between us. For one, Taylor and I have the same birthday. And, Cassie and Carly had the same thyroid issues. Now, these things really aren’t that interesting or rare, but to us, it meant we were connected.

The four of us were laying on our pillows, trying to sleep, when I just couldn’t contain my excitement anymore. I needed to talk. About everything. I needed to re-live the camp day that had just ended and share my anticipation of the next day’s activities. And so, I just talked. A lot. I didn’t stop until Cassie said she had a headache. Then Taylor and Carly agreed that they both had headaches too. I realized that I also had a headache. Because of the weird connections earlier, and the fact that now we all had headaches, we realized we were sort of like a club. And so, we became “The Headachers”. Obviously no club is complete without nicknames, so we instantly picked those too. Everyone decided that my unquenchable ramblings were the reason that we all had headaches at the same time. And from that moment on, my name was simply Chatter.

Changing my name seemed to have changed me. The next morning, and throughout the day, I told any camper who would listen about my name. And none of them disagreed, I was for sure going to be Chatter for a very long time. I made a lot of friends that day, some, who were clearly very introverted, were scared at first, but eventually I grew on them. I gave every camper in the whole camp a name. That amounted to 23 different names that I came up with after learning the person’s real name and their personality a bit. Nobody else knew who I was talking about most of the time because they barely knew their own nickname, much less somebody elses.

The rest of that week went smoothly. I had a new personality that allowed me to branch out in a completely different direction than I was used to. I wasn’t too shy to voice my opinion; I talked to everyone at meals even if I didn’t know them, and I felt free.

That freedom has continued on through my camp years, and has even leaked out into my everyday personality. Through the years my name has grown to now be Chitter Chatter Cheddar Cheese Sassafrass Neow Box. Although, nobody ever actually says my full name! Cheddar Cheese because sometimes campers mishear my name and think my name is Cheddar, Sassafrass because my friend Fusilli thinks I’m sassy, Neow because it is one of my favorite sounds and Fifi thought it should be included in my name, and Chitter and Box just go with the word Chatter.

In 2013, the group of campers I worked with fell in love with my name because it is so long. While waiting outside the shower house, I could hear the girls saying “I can say it faster than you” and “I can say it backwards.” And, then they would proceed to say it over and over. It became kind of like a tongue twister. It was sweet.

Becoming Chatter was the highlight of my camp career, because without that transition, I would still be serious, uptight, and worried at camp. One of my favorite things to hear is “Chatter, stop talking” or “now I realize why they call you Chatter” because it means that I have an identity and a personality that really shines.