WHERE DID THOSE COME FROM

Heaven only knows how long there seemed to be few named ‘Nathaniel’. The full name. Most are Nat, Nathan, Nate.

Mine was a spelling that didn’t seem to register with past generations. Maybe I could blame it on to my father would was, like me, a lousy speller. He used ‘ae’ in place of ‘ie’.

There have been three generations in my family whose males have become Nathaniel Clarke Wallace. My dad and his dad. And me. Our son ended up in becoming Nathaniel Clarke Wallace. Making him the fourth.

I remember wondering, when he was born, what Rosanne (Degilio) Wallace and I would call our newborn son. I didn’t expect her to accept my full name. Why, I don't know. When I murmured, ‘what about the full name’, Roe shot back. “That’s a blinding flash of the obvious. We’ll call him Nathaniel Clarke Wallace the fourth.” It rendered me speechless.

I figured when he was older, he wouldn’t like the NCW moniker. I was wrong. He loved it. He’s called ‘Nat’ by some. ‘Nathan’ by those in his working environment. It seems lately everyone - friends and family - everyone - call him ‘Nathaniel’.

Author’s comment: Looking back over the generations, the Irishman who brought our family to Canada during hard times in Ireland (1840’s?) was named simply Nathaniel Wallace. God knows where ‘Clarke’ came from. The family a Wallace married into?

RETURN OF WHAT?

A single page pamphlet arrived in our mailbox down by the road the other day. At the top was printed MedVisit. Under it: ‘Doctors Housecall Service. This was followed in large letters: DOCTORS HOUSE CALLS.

Then came the message: Our Doctors are on the road visiting patients 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Starting from 4 PM on weekdays and 10 AM Saturday, Sunday and public holidays.

Below this were photos of a male patient in bed, what I took for a wife beside him, and a doctor telling them what was what. It was labeled A DOCTOR TO YOUR HOME

The photo below this was a female doctor (a nurse perhaps?) with a stethoscope around her neck reading what looked like a Mastercard or whatever. And OHIP COVERED.

I’m telling you what I’m reading. I have no idea how to explain it otherwise.

The last portion comes with ‘IN-HOME COVID RAPID TESTING AVAILABLE FOR A FEE. Under is tube-like illustration with ‘COVID-19 TEST printed on it.

The real stuff is on the backside of the card explaining what MEDVISIT is all about. How it works if your covered by the ‘new OHIP criteria’ Frail elderly patients. Housebound patient.

Author’s comment: It ends with IN-HOME RAPID COVID TESTING AVAILABLE. There is always a kicker to such announcements. The eye-opener, so to speak. Fee: $100.00 per test.

To me, this all seems straight forward, helpful. Enlightening. It came out of the blue, with all this talk and misery that the pandemic has brought to the entire world.