David Steinhowever

My friend Amy just commented that she finds it funny that I call my husband "Stein". She said it sounds like a name that his college buddies would call him while playing poker. It is sort of funny, I think. Most of you know the story, but I'll tell it here in case you never heard it.

Stein and I met through mutual friends while we were both living in Chicago. At the time, Stein was living with Shark, a friend that he has known since grammar school. (Yes, I say grammar school. Is it a Chicago thing?) Anyway, Shark had always called Stein, Stein, so anyone that was introduced to him came to call him Stein. So when I was introduced to him, I called him Stein.

A few weeks after we first met I had to call him at his office (he was wooing me at the time and left me a message to call him back). I assumed his last name was Stein, since everyone called him Stein. So when his message said, "Hello, this is David Steinhauer, I'm not at my desk so please leave a message after the beep," I thought he was saying, "Hello, this is David Stein. However, I'm not at my desk so please leave a message after the beep." A few nights later, while talking with friends, his "real" last name came up in conversation. I blurted out, "You're last name is Steinhauer? No it's Stein." I didn't believe him and actually had him take out his license to prove it.

Then it came time for him to meet my family. I introduced him as "Dave" since I thought David sounded too formal. Why I thought it too formal, I don't know. He actually introduces himself as David. To this day, my family calls him Dave, with the exception of my brothers who call him Stein. So when I'm talking to people about him, I have to switch names depending if it's a friend or family member that I'm talking to.

It doesn't get confusing, until we're around his brother's friends who also refer to his brothers as Stein. Sometimes at parties, if all the brothers are there, you say Stein and it's guaranteed that at least two of them will turn around.