You spelled my last name HOW?

When I was 17, a photo of me selling my artwork at a church craft fair was in the local newspaper. Why on earth I thought people at a church craft fair would want to buy my psychedelic, bizarre artwork is beyond me! I definitely did not make any sales that day. But back to my story...

So I showed up for work at IHOP* a few weeks later, and my coworkers were like "SAM! you were in the newspaper! We hung up the clipping on the back bulletin board. Go check it out!".  I had no idea I was in the paper, so I ran to the back to check out my big moment in the spotlight. To my horror, I noticed the most egregious misspelling of my last name I had ever seen: "Ratman". Yes, you read that right: RATMAN!!! Of all the ways to mess up it up!

Questions flooded my mind...Was this my 15 minutes of fame? How many readers does this newspaper get anyway? Will I ever live down my nickname as "the Ratman"? I'll be honest, I'm kind of glad it happened because it makes for a good story (and possibly a good title for my future memoir. I am thinking "Tales of the Ratman"), but seriously, RATMAN? Ok, drumroll please...Here is the photo you've been waiting for:

*yes! i worked at IHOP! a post to follow on this soon