Nicknames

When I was a kid, my grandad Tingley called all of his grandchildren either Bill or Feathers.  My dad calls his grandkids all Smokey.
This picture's for YOU, Dad:

I saw a similar billboard today in Bloomington, which inspired this blog entry.

Dad called his 3 daughters by boy's names for nicknames:  I was Mike, Jill was Sam, and Connie was Bill.  (I guess Dad was practicing for grandparenthood by then.)  But when our brother Mark was born, we girls wanted to give him the nickname Sue.  It seemed fair.  And Johnny Cash's song "A Boy Named Sue" was popular.  Dad would have none of it.

Recently I mentioned this to Dad.  He can't believe he wouldn't let us call Mark "Sue."  He's mellowed a bit since then.

And speaking of mellowing:  once when I was in high school, I recommended a very funny movie to my parents.  Blazing Saddles.  They were "disgusted" by it!  15 years later when Mark, (not SUE!) rented it and they watched it with him, they loved it.  When I asked why they had changed their mind about it, Dad said, "Something was wrong with us back then.  We had too many kids!"

Yes, too many kids.  I see that now.  And never argue with a guy with the biggest pitchfork.  That's my motto. 

So back to nicknames:  Jeremiah is called "Miah" sometimes by all of us, "Puppy"sometimes by me, "Brother" sometimes by his dad.  Sierra is "Sisi."  And when they have kids, I'm going to call them all...Sweet Pea for the girls, and Sue for the boys!