My Name Day: A Surprise Every Year

Every year, essentially by design, I make sure not to write my name day on our calendar. Thus, every name day comes as a surprise. A name day, incidentally, is like a birthday and is celebrated in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries in Europe and Latin America on the feast day of the saint after whom one is named.

Considering that I was named after a character on a TV Western rather than a saint, I do not have a name day in the purest sense. However, my friend, the late great composer and historian Igor Heinz, dubbed me "Hynek" because trying to pronounce my real name absolutely exasperated him. You see, there is no "th" in Czech, so Igor decided to give me a good old-fashioned Czech name rather than continue making a hissing sound to simulate "th." Thus, February 1st, the Feast of Saint Hynek, became my name day.      

This year, as usual, I was extremely surprised when my name day arrived. In the morning I received a "Happy Name Day" text from Baba Jaja, my mother-in-law, who lives in Europe, and when I got home from work Martina told me "všechno nejlepší," all the best, and handed me a cured sausage that Baba Jaja had sent me as well as a gift-wrapped package, which happened to be a copy of the recently-released memoir, My Years with Townes Van Zandt by Harold F. Eggers, Jr. Well, friends, I must admit that it's hard to beat having a surprise party every year.

And here's a little Townes Van Zandt, upon whose family's former ranch our house is situated.