The Original MAJ

I am feeling somewhat nostalgic this holiday season.  Maybe it's because I am without my parents this year. In any event, I am often asked how I became MAJ or The Original MAJ. 

So, here is the story.

Back in the 1960s, when my parents were newlyweds and my mom was working in an office, she would sign memos and notes to her bosses with her initials, MAJ, rather than writing out her whole name. Back in those days, memos and notes were what we now consider email. Eventually this stuck, as it tends to do when your initials spell a real name, and the people with whom she worked began calling her MADGE instead of her real name.

In the early 2000s, when I was working in an office, I signed a lot of e-mails with MY inititals - MAJ - rather than writing out my whole name.  Without any of us knowing the story about how my mom became MAJ, my coworkers started calling *ME* MADGE instead of my real name.  This spread to my friends, professors, and anyone who ever got an e-mail from me.

Both of us were MADGE way before anyone decided to give Madonna that nickname.

When my mom found out that I was being called MAJ, too, we would I often joke that I am "MAJ, Junior" or that she is "The Original MAJ."  And so when I signed back up for Twitter a few years ago, mostly as an outlet for my workout tracking and to follow random colleges and celebs, that became my screen name.  "The Original MAJ" is both a reference to the idea that we are all originals and a nod to my mom.  So when I set up a Facebook fan page for my workout mis/adventures, I decided it was fitting for the address to be www.facebook.com/theoriginalmaj

I am enjoying a few more weeks of sporadic workouts here and there, and then in January the training for the 2012 TOUR DE MOM begins. 

The Original MAJ rides again.