Naming Our House

Posted On October 19, 2019

I have been working on our house’s book every spare moment I have. Gathering data, reading articles, probably annoying the heck out of my amazing historian at the Rockford Public Library and keeping all of you updated on Instagram. Shortly after announcing to the world we bought our house my aunt asked me if I would be naming the house? I had considered it, but how could I even compare to some of the names I have seen her or others who have named their houses or properties? I mean give me a pets name sure, but a house….I’m just not good at that type of stuff! I advised my Aunt I wouldn’t know where to even start on that, but yeah maybe I would sometime down the line! 

She said, “Don’t worry, the house will tell you what it wants to be named” I though ummmmmm well ok how is the house going to tell me what it wants to be named? I mean yes I’m a firm believer in everything happens for a reason and paying attention to signs, but a house telling me what it wants to be named? This absolutely sounded nuts to me….love you Cha Chi..I know you’re reading this 😁

We went about our next couple of weeks and did what most couples do, we started to settle in. We unpacked, hung things up on the walls and finally painted walls. I sure didn’t see any signs and well trying to think of a name just wasn’t anything I had time to think about! 

After being in the house for a month our security system doorbell was acting up and picking up random things including random bees. For two weeks they would fly up say hi and buzz off. They would fly up look into the camera, stare and take off. Then one flew up and, well, let’s just say my door bell was assaulted by this bee! For 32 seconds I watched this bee express it’s love for my doorbell! It was rather amusing and entertaining to say the least! 

That same day I had just finished painting the dining room and began pulling off the painters tape. Finally the last section and I’d be done, then I began to panic! The last section I was peeling off, something peeled off with the tape. It looked to be thin layer of what I thought was wood, but it was a strip of wallpaper. I peeled it away from the sticky tape successfully and there lying on my dining room table was a dainty pattern of… you guessed it..bees! It was at that moment I realized this was my sign! What did all these bees mean? 

I stated to search internet on what the meaning of the bee was. What was the the spiritual meaning of the bee? What was the meaning of the bee as an animal totem?  Everything pointed to many things that resembled me and my character, yet some things I could see resembled the house. Oh…side note…did I mention I’m very allergic to bee stings… go figure! I could hardly keep my eyes open and decided to call it a night. I drifted off to sleep and a few hours later I woke up and a name popped in my head…Beatrice! I sat up and said that’s it the houses name would be BEEtrice. 

I just laid there for hours, listening to the the clock tick, waiting for dawn to break! I was like a kid at Christmas waiting for some light so I could pop up out of bed and tell the world about the houses name! Finally….light seeped through the curtains! I jumped out of bed and I started my day! I immediately messaged my Aunt to tell all about the signs and the name! She was so excited for me! Now, I couldn’t wait to tell my husband. The key factor was how would I tell him and would he understand the house told me? 

I began the conversation by saying “Babe you know how I want to write this book about the house?” 

“Yes” he replied 

“Well, I think we should name the house as well.” I said 

“I knew you were going to say that, something deep down inside me just knew you would eventually be telling me this” 

I began to tell him about my aunt, the signs of the bees, what the symbolism of the bee was and how I think we should name the house Beetrice. 

He replied, “You know I just knew this was going to happen, so I’ve been thinking myself of names for the house as well” His statement shocked me and I’m sure I had a dumbfound look on my face and I listed to what he had to say….

“I think we should name the house Rubee and here is why….the longest living family to live here was the Rubin family, that’s where the Ru comes from. The Bee part comes from these bees we have been seeing. The name Ruby is Hebrew and the Rubin’s were Jewish and well the house brick color is red like the the ruby gem.” 

Unsure if I liked this idea as it was not mine but rather his I replied, “Unmmm I don’t know, I like Beetrice, it’s an old name, just let me think about it.”  

I left home to pick up my bestie to have some lunch and tell her all about naming the house! All the way there I thought shit, I like both names! His was probably better then mine, but damn why couldn’t I come up with Rubee?! 

We got to my new favorite restaurant two blocks from my house called, The Norwegian! Side note….amazing food, owner, staff and atmosphere! We had to wait a few minutes for a table and as we waited I began to tell my bestie all about the house name and bee saga….just as I was finished with incredibly long story a bee (legit) flew by the two of us and landed in a vase a flowers on a table next to us! We both looked at each other and said “It’s a sign!” 

Fifteen minutes later two seats opened up at the bar and our helpful waiter convinced us to have their homemade pumpkin lattes! They make them with fresh purée pumpkin and oat milk…just Incase you are local and needed encouragement to have one, this is a must! Our waiter shouted to the barista “Hey Ruby, can you please, make these to lovely ladies each a pumpkin latte?” 

My bestie looked at me and I looked at her and she said, “Girl, if that wasn’t a clear enough sign for you that your house wants to be named Rubee I don’t know what else you need to convince you?”

It was at that moment I knew that my amazing husband was right and our houses name would be Rubee! Thank you for helping see the signs and realize what our house wanted to be named!

So let me officially introduce to you our Rubee…..EST. 1903, Camp Ave, Rockford, Illinois! A Gem of Churchill’s Grove!