Dining With The Bentlers

At my house dinner can be very important. That being said for the majority of the time dinner is a time for the family to sit down talk about our days and then unlike many families we do not sit at the table we sit at on our couch get comfy and just eat! While this is the case during many of the extremely hectic week nights, this is not always what we do. When we have formal dinners we all gather in the dining room and dress nicely. Food wise we eat a lot of different proteins. Generally we have steak a night or two a week with some different fish or even tacos.

While dinner at my house can range from extremely causal to formal, I have been to a multitude of other houses unlike mine in this way. One of the my favorites was the dining at the house of my Persian friend. Rather than eating the normal American dinner, large amounts of beautiful Persian food was there for us to eat. The serving of the food was generally the same, but the amount of work that went into the feast was insane. To be honest I am making myself hungry as I speak!

Jack

I personally really like my name. To be honest I have always liked it. Sometimes it wasn't the name Jack I liked, but rather all the nicknames. To my friends I was Jackie B. to many I was JB and to my family I was Jackiepoo. That being said, never have I disliked my name or been placed in an uncomfortable place by it. Unlike Gogol being named after a Russian author or my own mother being named after a Beatle's song, my name had no inspiration behind it. As a young man I do not think that is a bad thing either, as I am the first in my family to try and create a legacy as the lone "Jack."
Not only that, but as I continue to mature I have no problem with the name. Jack is timeless and could be anyone from a boats captain to a famous actor. Perhaps one day I will decide to name my own kid Jack. Until that day I enjoy being the only Jack Bentler I know of, as the only thing making or breaking my name is my evolving reputation as I grow up and find my place in the world.

Montague?

My full name is Jack Montague Bentler and my names does little to define my heritage. Bentler is derived from the last name Blumenfeld and was picked when my family wanted a name with no country or history tying it back. Montague comes from my grandfather's family with which I feel greatly impacts my life. The Montague name comes from the French side of my grandfather's family and actually dates back to what we found to be three fourths of a millennium. Not only that but the Montagues were among the first to reach America in the 1600's. For years the Montagues remained in Virginia until they coincided with the Hill family and my great grandfather married my great grandmother. The Hill family had also been in America for many years, but unlike my great grandfather's family my great grandmother's family amassed tremendous wealth. My grandpa still tells me today he remembers being dined on by servants in the family estate. As luck would have it however, his family lost nearly everything they had and like my fathers German/Jewish family in Berlin, went from riches to just more than rags. The Southern traditions in my family are still continued every single time I fly to Virginia where I find myself listening to his tall tales out on the patio, whittling, and drinking a cup of ice cold sweet tea. So while I might have slightly different views than the more traditional Southern gentleman my grandfather is, I can appreciate the history he has lived through and the long talks we have shared on this history.