Meet Mimzy & The Creep

Here they are...Mimzy & The Creep. As you can probably guess this is where the title for this blog came from. From the absolutley odd nick names that have been graced upon our children. Mimzy is also known as Mia and The Creep, well that is Chase. It got me thinking about nicknames and their develoment and origins. It is as if they are a life force all of their own. They grown and develop into complex creatures that require a flow chart in order to determine how they were born. What I wonder most about is why we sometimes apply such horrifc terms of endearments for our loved ones. For instance, I was working in the garden yesterday afternoon and our neighborhood had some company over and the guest addressed her child (about 20 times in 2 minutes) as Pooper. Pooper? Really? Now I should not talk. I call my son Creep for goodness sake. I can tell you the development and origin of how the name came to be but does that matter? I have labeled my son as a Creep. I try to refrain from addressing him as such while in front of friends but it could slip out eventually and what happens that day when a friend of his latch's onto that nickname and my son is forever known throughout his entire K-12 career as a Creep? Will I have scarred him for life? Will I cause permanent damage? Will I be obligated to pay his therapy bills when he is a traumatized adult?

Then there is my daugther Mia. Mimzy, MiMi, Linners, Mimi Loohoo, Lulu, Lulah, Lulahbug, Mia Lin Assabaggers.....the list is endless. Am I cursing her with a personality complex in her adult years with which she assigns a distinct personality to each of the names just so she can tell each apart from the other? Again, am I scarring her for life? Will she end up as another Sybil using her creative mind to develop an alternate world that is crazy and interesting enough to write a book about and get turned into several movies? (That's actually not a bad idea).

The point is...why do we do this to our children and our Spouses? To our parents and our siblings? The answer is simple. Love. It is out of love that we label those around us with these oddities. It is giving our seal of approval and putting our own personal stamps on the relationships. They are in fact Terms of Endearment. So the next time you hear a person calling their child Pooper or Booger or Creep think twice before judging because you are witnessing love first hand and that is a special thing my friend.