CHAPTER 4: WILAGENE: BLESS HER HEART

I love both of my sisters, but I sure am glad I was born a male. Oh, I’m not (overly) chauvinistic—it’s just that I’m a fan of somewhat normal names. And for my parents, naming boys was an easy task. I go by Al, but my full name is Allen Wade, my grandfathers’ middle names. My brother’s name is David Andrew (Andy), as mainstream a name as you’ll find. My cousin Beth recently researched our family history back to the 1600’s, and one of the surprising aspects of the Ainsworth family line was the normality of the names through the centuries.

That long-held tradition ended in our generation with my sisters. My sisters were given more, er, unique names. Lu Ann is not too uncommon, at least in the South. The Lu...

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