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My Name is Not Nicole (Part 1)

Writer's picture: Natalie Klinkhammer, CFCPNatalie Klinkhammer, CFCP


My Name is Not Nicole
My Name is Not Nicole

More times than I can count, I have been mistaken for a Nicole, not a Natalie. It’s something I have gotten used to, having to politely correct people the second time I meet them that my name is in fact Natalie, not Nicole. I have nothing against the name Nicole…it’s a lovely name…maybe it even edged out Natalie in popular baby girl names in the 1980s…but it’s just not my name.  It’s not something I had ever really given much thought to. I mean, the names sound similar enough to make the mix-up a simple mistake, and I was content to just leave it at that. Two years ago however, I had an experience that caused me to rethink the message behind all these little “mix-ups”.

     In October of 2023, I was able to attend the Michigan Catholic Women’s Conference in Lansing. I had never been before but managed to convince my mom, a friend, and one of my sisters to attend with me. It was an awesome day filled with beautiful music, inspiring speakers, Mass celebrated by the Bishop, and lots of cute Catholic shopping. During the afternoon, there were opportunities to attend various breakout activities, like Confession, spending time in quiet prayer, and the opportunity to be prayed over. Since I had already gone to confession that week (#humblebrag) and was feeling too restless for quiet prayer and reflection, I decided to get in the line to be prayed over.

As I was waiting in line, I was running through my usual litany of petitions that I pray daily, wondering if there was anything in particular I was being called to bring to prayer during my session. It’s important to note that I had never been prayed over before so I really had no idea how to prepare, what to expect, etc… I thought maybe having someone whose charism is praying would add some “oomph” to my own prayers? (Full disclosure, that may not be theologically sound, but I will leave that to the actual theologians of GFCC to address…but I digress.) Anyway, it’s finally my turn to be prayed over. I walk over to the new prayer minister who just happened to be coming back from her lunch break. “Great!”, I thought, “She’s got to be all refreshed and ready to do some serious praying”. She was very kind, asked my name, and explained how the prayer process works and what she might experience that she would then share with me. She asked if I had any specific intentions for prayer, and I just gave her my usual requests. She then starts praying over me. It was an interesting experience for sure, especially hearing the prayers you so often carry on your heart being asked on your behalf by someone else saying them out loud and over you…so powerful!

The part of the experience that caught my attention the most, however, was that she kept calling me Nicole instead of Natalie the whole time she was praying over me. Literally, the whole time. Like 6-7 times. I’m not going to say I did a spiritual eye roll, but I definitely was thinking something along the lines of “Hey God, I am always being called Nicole instead of Natalie, so I find it a little rude (yet hilarious) that during this special time of prayer this lady is calling me Nicole instead of Natalie even though I just introduced myself to her and am wearing a giant lanyard nametag the size of my face that says Natalie. Also, please answer these prayers of mine.” (Again, this method of prayer may not be theologically sound (see above, “…leave that to the actual theologians of GFCC…”) but hey, I keep my prayers honest).

Once the prayer minster finished praying, she shared what she experienced and asked if I had experienced anything specific as well. I said everything seemed fine except that my name was Natalie, not Nicole. I laughed it off and explained that it happens all the time. She told me she was resisting the urge to Google whether or not there is some sort of Catholic significance for the name Nicole and decided to add in a bonus prayer to rid me off any sort of confusion over my identity (pesky identity demons? Is that a thing?? GFCC theologians???) We finished our discussion and then I went on my merry way to celebrate Mass and finish the rest of the conference.

     It wasn’t until a few days later that I had time to review the notes I had taken during the day and reflect on my experience as a whole. And of course, it finally dawned on me to Google to see if I could find anything about this Nicole. Did I find anything out about this Nicole? O yes. Has that discovery impacted my care as a Creighton Practitioner? Stay tuned for part 2 of this blog to find out!

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