I didn't know it until Charlie admitted it to the lady: I was named after a restaurant.

Oh my rebar! If I'd known, I would have curled inward with humiliation. Restaurants are such, well, people places. They are made for cockroaches to gather and people to drop crumbs and the mess. But Charlie said it was true.

The lady was talking with Nan when Charlie came in that day (Charlie sure comes in to work later in the day a lot... Hasn't Leo noticed this? And then he tells her to feel free to head home early too. It looks unfair to me.)

The lady, I was saying, was standing at the counter, telling Nan and Leo that she was the woman who had Tioli's in San Deigo. I thought, No. Not a restaurant. An Italian restaurant, with food and stuff like that to eat right there. I knew that Charlie would set the record straight when she walked in on the conversation, but instead, she started crying and said something like, "I am so touched!"

The lady was touched too, and they talked about Judy's Tioli's and me and how it all seemed like a parallel existence. Judy's husband Willy was diagnosed with cancer the month that Charlie and Leo opened my doors as Tioli's. By that December, Willy had died. Judy sold their Tioli's to a burger guy, and my namesake was changed. Charlie said she was glad to hear of the change directly from Judy because it would be a disappointment to try to visit them and find it so different. (Another example of human simplicity, as if things never change.)

So, I'm named after a restaurant. I was prepared for complete humiliation by that idea. But when I listened to Judy and saw how she already loved me, I felt differently about all of it. I felt like I had a Grandma. I felt like I have a heritage and am not some silly upstart idea of two disgruntled educators. I have roots.

After my Tutu Judy left, Nan was flipping through a cookbook from the original Tioli's that Judy left for us. In the cookbook was a picture of Judy's dog Bonnie. Nan pointed to the picture and said to Charlie, "Look at this. It's the exact image of Jack." The Bonnie dog and Jack could be twins.

That coincidence raised the shingles on my roof ridge, let me tell you.