Nephi and Celeste

So right now you’re asking yourself: “Self, who is Nephi and Celeste?” Well, the truth is, we are.

When we were planning our move to Virginia we started talking about how we pretty much have a fresh start and how everything will be different. And how nobody knows anything about us.

Including our names.

So we thought we would go by Nephi and Celeste–our middle names. To make a long story short, it didn’t work. To make a long story long, well…

We had our first chance to really try it out at church our first sunday here. I introduced myself in priesthood as Nephi, and Tonya introduced herself as Celeste in relief society. Piece of cake right. Everybody reacted normally, just like people do when you say “hi, I’m ___________.” Well, almost normal. I think half the ward was ecstatic about actually meeting a real live Nephi, and so everybody kept repeating my name after meeting me. It was awkward.

Also our first sunday, another couple invited us over for dinner. It was tough trying to call Tonya, Celeste. She was having trouble keeping Nephi and Jacob straight. And so our conversations and stories about how we met, etc. were a little convoluted and told without saying each other’s names. It was an adventure, and kind of fun, but just difficult to keep up. I’m sure we confused our gracious hosts and the other friends they had invited to dinner. It was fun though, and it gave us something laugh about.

The next week we switched to Jacob and Tonya and now everything is back to normal. I still got a couple of “hi Nephi”s at church and Tonya was called “Celeste” a few times. But we told everyone the truth before they decided to send us to the spanish branch so we could have another go at the Nephi and Celeste thing in a new branch…

Just kidding. We’re Jacob and Tonya.