NICKNAMES

In my family there have always been nicknames.  My Dad was "Rock" when he was younger and it was on his letterman's jacket.  Now I know how he got this, he has forearms like Popeye's (I would have liked to have picked those from the gene pool); broad shoulders (got those, thanks); all packaged in a 5'8" frame (out of respect Dad, I'm still going with that declared stat, but does anyone else actually buy it? and I am so grateful to have neared the 6' mark), and, by all accounts I have heard, he was West Bountiful's James Dean before there was a James Dean.

So apparently he wanted to grace me and my brothers with our own monikers, but they were so numerous and random that they never really stuck and I can only remember two right this minute, both anointed on Jon, Wax and Tomato, hence why my mind has blocked them as a survival response.  You really can't claim a lot of street cred with Wax.  My Dad is a fairly creative, out-of-the-box thinker (a trait I am proud to have inherited), but failed him in the nickname realm.

Jeff got a sketchy nickname courtesy of Bud, but Shitty parlayed the derisive slam into a humorous and street-worthy moniker.  Along the way I got names like JT (for Jim time - a rude comment on my punctuality), AJ Snake (my original attempts at backing a trailer took circuitous paths), and finally Bean (that is a longer story).  Shitty and I still use these nicknames talking to each other - we are just programmed to enjoy nicknames.

Megan and Katie have been victimized.  Their original shared name was shrimps (we played shark and shrimps in the pool when we first met) and later it morphed to the squirrels. The ones that stuck are MG and KT, but I still can't resist an occasional "Dork" which is my universal term of endearment (and has been telegraphed across a gym or football field with a giant D created with both arms).

I could not resist carrying on the family tradition.  Camryn was originally "Dingleberry," but with it's farm yard connotation was not a favorite and in retrospect is worse than Wax.  Her current one is Spunky Winkerbean or Spunky.  Tamsin is my Zippy.  I am fairly confident they will always be my Spunky and Zippy and I will be their PopPop (I swear this was Camryn's first words while we waited in a corner of Crate and Barrel when she 6 months old).  Zippy is also carrying on the tradition, anointing Karen with Maaga - not sure if it will stick nor if Karen has warmed up to it.

Coming full circle, I greet my Dad with the old standby of Pops most of the time.  For years and still occasionally, I call him Suede.  I returned the favor of a nickname based on his life long avocation as a salesman and his penchant for all things entrepreneurial - it is still my favorite term of endearment.

And I always call Karen Honey because she is mine.