The McClendon REP

I am the youngest of five children.  It was not always easy following in four sets of footsteps.  It didn’t help that my brother and sisters were not only good academically but athletically as well.  Needless to say, they set the bar high.  Having the same teachers in school meant there was always expectations about how well I would do (no, no pressure at all).

But it wasn’t just at school.  It was nothing for me to introduce myself and have a total stranger say, ‘Oh, you’re one of those McClendon girls’.  (Picture me with a head hanging, not again attitude.)  Then, add in the fact that I had 6 cousins (also named McClendon) who were all overachievers and only lived twenty minutes away and an aunt who was the high school girls’ coach…  You get the picture.

Now fast forward several years to Bible college in Missouri (where none of my family was from or to my knowledge had ever been).  I was so-o-o-o happy to leave my family rep behind.  No expectations.  No shoes to fill.  I could finally be my own person; build my own rep. (bwa-ha-ha)

I had been there for four days and the dean walks up and says ‘You’re that McClendon girl, aren’t you.  I’ve got my eye on you’. 

NO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O… 

Talk about shocked!!!  Turns out there was a family of McClendons that used to go to their church and they had quite the rep. (AGAIN, picture me with a head hanging, not again attitude.) 

Just the other day an old friend said, ‘You’re a McClendon’ (this time I didn’t have that hang dog attitude) and it made me think of that story and the difference in my attitude from then and now.  

Of course, there were a lot of instances that having that McClendon rep came in handy.  There was a lot of good associated with that rep; honesty, loyalty, trust.  Still is. 

Now days, there are not many left with that name.  The last names have become Smith, Brooks, Davis, Evans and Gates to name a few.  But the rep is still there and being passed down from generation to generation.  It’s a good legacy to leave behind.