Saturday, March 7, 2009

Kleetus

What do you think of when you hear the name Kleetus? Oh, yes. I am perfectly aware that the name is typically spelled Cletus. When I think of the name Cletus, I think of an old tired horse. Cletus, who pulled the buggy uphill and down. Who listened to young romance and shared the tears of a broken heart. For a time, he pulled the plow over 60 acres of sugarbeet farmland. He was awakened early each day as Bessie's milk squirted melodically into the metal bucket. He carried the boy on his back through fields and forests year after year. But now Cletus is tired and he spends his days in his own field eating grass and reminiscing of the happy life he had ~looking forward to the time he will run through the green fields of horsey heaven. This is who I picture when I hear the name Cletus. Today I want to introduce you to another Kleetus. Kleetus Wida Kay. Kleetus is my friend. He has been with me uphill and down. I have ridden on his back through rain, hail, sleet and snow. We have had some very happy days together with many more to come. Kleetus is not tired or worn down. He is young and vibrant and very patient with me as I coax him up long gradual climbs or when I make him stop in the middle of short steep ones. He doesn't whine when I won't let him race down hills as fast as he would like even though he knows he can do it because he understands my fear of high velocity. This is my friend, Kleetus.Years ago there was a professional baseball player (a shortstop I believe.) He was a great player snagging the short bounce touching second and popping it off to first for a quick double play. His baseball gloves were given to him by the maker. Good advertising for them. Every now and then through no fault of his own he would make an error. Now, I say through no fault of his own because on the rare occasion when he did make an error... He threw away his mitt. He threw it away in the garbage because it was the gloves fault. Eventually the company who made his gloves kindly informed him that they would no longer supply him with free baseball mitts. (Maybe the occasion of error wasn't as rare as I said)

Naming Kleetus is kind of like that. When I am struggling up one of those long gradual climbs. Pounding the pedals and feeling the burn I can encourage Kleetus through the pain. "Come on Kleetus, you can do this, keep pushing." Or on the speeding downhill rush, "Okay, Kleetus. Slow it down a little."

Personification, it really works... It's not me, it's Kleetus.

By the way, Cycle Guy rides Thunder. Thunder and Kleetus are a good team. Kleetus knows he will never be as fast as Thunder but he's okay with that. It's in the name.

Do you have an inanimate friend who you've named? I want to hear about it!!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah kleetus and thunder, what a pair they make. They're like the dynamic duo of speed and grace!!!

everydayMOM said...

My husband and I have names for our mountain bikes, although they are the manufacturer's names: Rock Hopper (mine) and Stump Jumper (his). Stump Jumper can definitely go over the fallen logs at a faster pace. But Rock Hopper can crank up the hills faster than Stump Jumper.

My previous bike was named Disco Bike due to its colorful paint job. Disco Bike had to retire several years ago.

Goings on at the Glenn's said...

I did name my car once. I thought it was silly to have a name for a car and that only silly, obsessed men named their cars. But in high school it was no question that my car deserved a name. I had an old '76 Dodge Aspen that was painted maroon. It came with an am radio and a broken drivers seat. So my mom and I fixed it up to make it suitable for a high school seniors pride. We put in an updated AM/FM radio and fixed the drivers seat by putting an old camping foam pad over the top and buying some seat covers. We even updated the outside by replacing the old rusty hubcaps with some cheap plastic ones from WalMart. Pretty pathetic by todays standards but to me it was a "cool" car. Besides I had a car to call mine and that was worth it all by itself.
It used to be my grandmas car and she sold it to my parents who in turn let me drive it. I dubbed him "Forest" He just never stopped running! Notice I gave it a boys name instead of the usual girls name...

Dawn said...

This was so much fun to read! I only had nick names for children like beenie boots!

Jenny-Jenny said...

I know beenie boots!!