Rockstar, Flossie & Pumpkin Butt

'Excuse me, Flossie!'
'Hey. Rapunzel'
'Alright, Twiggy'
'What else Skinny?'
and more traditionally...
'Thank you Dear'
'Sure, Darling'
'No problem Love'
'Here you go, Honey'
'Okay, Sweetheart.'
'Thanks, Angel'

Terms of endearment bestowed upon me from strangers.
Doesn't matter, baby-love.
I'll answer to anything.

I guess in a more traditional than my faded Levis' who-could-be-bothered with curling the hair much less the eye lashes world, 'Maam' would be the appropriate & respectful term of endearment for a stranger to use. Sure enough SweetPea, 'Maam' doesn't really seem appropriate over here... but I'll answer to it too.

A mother silently pushed her terrible two-something toddler through the store, screaming every bit of the way. Each aisle seemed to be sheer torture for the young boy. Momma pushed on. After about 40 minutes of pretended peace, Momma pushed her buggy to the counter to check out with screaming child strapped in.

'Hey Pumpkin! Why are you crying? You have the coolest red truck on your shirt! You gotta like that!'

A sniffle, then back to the tearless screams and an eye-cut from Momma...'Well, for one thing! He don't like being called pumpkin!'

Smiling back at scrowling Momma...'Hahaha, welllllllll...... let him live to be my age and he'll realize there are a lot worse things to be called.'

A term of endearment, whether we personally like it or not, is still a term of endearment....right, rockstar?

Here's your change ma'am, Thank You

...and Have a Nice Day.
Just Do It
Not so long ago I had a gazillion letters in my name.
Now I have 10. First name, middle name & last name...10 letters.
Some get repeated, some don't.

With my old name I could re-arrange letters and spell great little words like peace.

I Did It.
'Peace' may not be a word mixed in my new name, my current name...my final name anymore, but it's in my life...slivers, moments, glimpses, whispers of it.
Now, ironically enough 'Live, Love & Learn' are mixed up in my name and ... ah well, I'm pleased to offer up 'Peace' and just keep the change on this one...

Sometimes we gotta give stuff up...Live, Love & Learn to truly keep the peace.

Could I get my change, please?

I get called all kinds of things & I answer to just about any & all of them. Outside of the generic pet names dosed out here in the south, such as darlin', babe, dear, sweetie, shoog (as in shew-gah aka sugar) I also get called some pretty specific proper names, which are not mine. Most often these names are Pam, Peg and for some strange reason, Faith. Doesn't matter really.
If you're talking to me, I will pretty much talk back, I was raised that way. Mom usually went through a smorghasborg of names before she got to mine. I think anyone with three or more children in the house is allowed to do this & I think that those children should listen when spoken to, regardless of what they are being called.
Call me what you will.
None-the-less, I do have a name. A legal one. It's attached to my social security number.
I have the name that I was born unto, but it's not my legal name.
I had my legal name changed after I got married.
The social security office told me to write, then sign, what I wanted my legal name to be. I asked if I could change my name to #&?@* and was advised that I had to have a legal reason to change my legal name. I asked about the Artist Formerly Known as Prince & was told he had his legal reasons. They said that my legal reason was my marriage.
But now, I'm divorced & the judge declared that I could go and change my name back.
back?!?
Hmmm...
I decided to get married much for the same reasons that I chose to get divorced ... I was moving forward in life .
But legally, it would look like I am moving in circles... in fact, like I am going back.
I haven't gone down to the Social Security office with my divorce papers yet, but when I do I hope to let you know if they will allow me to simply change my name or if they will tell me if I can only change it back.
I still love him & he loves me but there's no going back.

What's In A Name ... Space, Mace & Grace

Growing up as one who hated the TV, I often found myself entertaining myself in a variety of ways...furthermore, even as a kid, I have always had a miserable time falling asleep. I'm not one who 'goes' to sleep. I have to 'fall' asleep. I have to be doing something until I just go. It doesn't matter how tired I may be, as soon as I lay down...BOING! I'm suddenly second or third winded. So, in bed, I will read, draw, write...often with one foot sticking out from under the covers shaking left to right with a vigor that threatens to make the ceiling come down. I've done that since I was a kid, too. When I have read all there is to read in the house & my mind needs to go blank, I'll try to find sleep by making lists. This list-making thing is also a carry-over from my childhood. Oh, the things we do for sleep. (sing-song in my head, like the old 70's song...the thing we do for love)

So...What's In A Name?
These are the letters in my name...
AAA EEE III O BCGHKLLLMNNPPPRS
That's a lot of letters, but each can be used only as many times as it appears above for each word...and this is the list I came up with last night, as I was fading to the paralysis called sleep.
shrimp, primp & limp
apple pies & pralines
manners & banners
places, laces & races
bark, spark, larks, parks
pranks, banks, slank & sank
clasp, hasp & rasp
implies, pries, lies
scallion & onions
rallies & relies
meager & eager
shape & mishapen
hell, shell, repels
slap, happen
maples, oaks, pines & elms
shopper, hopper & chopper
scream, cream & redeem
shrank, crank, plank & prank
linger, singer& ringer
ginger, singe & hinge
cleanse, lense & sense
sleek, meek & shriek
slim, limbs, & grim
prone, cone, bone & lone
skin, prim, sin & brim
reign, lane, mane & gain
millions, billions & gabillions
glimpse, limps, chimps & hemp
shock, locks & rocks
lapse, chasm, brash & crash
slipper, shipper, dipper
pains, gains, slain & plain
space, mace & grace
sigh, high & nigh
palace & malice
spring sprang, ring, rang, sing, sang...
hills, pills, chills...
sleep, peace, again, amen... blink.