Excuse Me, Is Your Name Nick?

TODAY'S QUOTES:

"Of all eloquence, the nickname is the most concise.  Of all arguments, the most unanswerable."         

~William Hazlitt, British essayist. (1778-1830)

"Chance is a nickname of Providence."         

 ~Chamfort, French playwright. (1741-1794)

"My feet ain't got nothing to do with my nickname, but when folks get it in their heads that a feller's got big feet, soon the feet start looking big."         

 ~Leroy 'Satchel' Paige, American Baseball Pitching Legend (1906-1982) 

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Just for fun, I think I will post in response to DoWhaChaDo89's challenge.

QUESTION #1:

I wonder what nicknames you all have, or gave to other people...How and why did you pick their nickname or get your nickname?

QUESTION #2:

Proverbs 22:1 says "A good name is more desired than great riches."  Do you think that God has a special nickname for you...what would it be?

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Ah, nicknames. 

 Those silly little terms of endearment that say "Funny face, I love you." 

When I hear the nicknames others use for their spouses, or children, I often think they sound funny.  For instance, our pastor calls his wife "Honeybun".  I guess it fits her, but it sounds a little odd to hear her called by that name.  However, when I hear my nicknames, or use nicknames for my kids, they are sentimental, charming, and make me feel warm and fuzzy all over.  :-)  I suppose that warm fuzzy feelining is why people use nicknames for their loved ones.

I guess it all started when I was just learning to talk.  I was the first grandchild, and couldn't say "Grandma" or "Me-Maw", so I decided to call my maternal-grandmother "Mimi".  Ten grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren later, she is "Mimi" to just about all of them.

When each of my kids were born, I remember making a special effort to choose names that met certain criteria.  Among other things, I wanted names that were not easily shortened into nicknames, like "Willie", or "Sissy", or "Ginny".  Not sure why that was important, but I think I considered my kids names as very important, and didn't want someone else to call them by names I didn't like.  We ended up choosing Sarah Jesica, Jotham Samuel and Jericho Elisabeth - with strict instructions that they were not to be called Jessie, Sammy, Jeri or Lizzy.  :-)

Boy was I naive!  Grandma, (my Mom) found cute mutations for all three of my kid's names in a matter of days.  Now that they are teenagers, it's nice that only grandma calls them by their special name, whether it's "SaraJes", "Joth", or "Jer".

You know, my mom is really good at this nickname thing.  She used to call me "Tunafish", and "Sassafrass" when I was growing up.  As the grandkids grew, I heard nicknames from my childhood revived --- like "Suggie-Mouse" (sugar mouse), "Sunshine", "Sassy", "Susie-Q" and "Morning Glory".  Funny how those words can still bring a smile to my heart.

Larry and I don't have cute pet names for each other.  We call each other "Honey", and "Sweetie" occasionally.  But that doesn't mean that our home and our lives aren't filled with quirky, sweet names.  My nineteen year old daughter, Sarah, is the only one that still calls me "Mommie".  Jotham calls me "Mom", and Jericho calls me "Mama".  When he and I were dating, Sarah called Larry "Pretend-Daddy".  Now he's the only "Dad" for all three of the kids, and sometimes "Larry the Cucumber" or "Larry Boy" (Veggie Tales) and "Larry the Cable Guy" (Because he works for a cable company.)  Most of you know me as "TaunaLen".

My youngest, Jericho, has more nicknames that any of us.  Her friends call her "Jazzy", "Jaz" "Jeri", "J", "Babe", "Ska", "Krazy", "Jer", "Squirt", "Shorty" and "Monkey".  When she was little, Larry used to call her "Jeri-choo".  Jotham, he called "Joe-Thumb" and we still call him "Joth" along with "Jot"and "Jo".

A few years ago, at camp, someone came up with a nickname for the whole Scroggins family.  We spend a lot of time working as a team in our Youth Outreach, so this person decided to refer to each of us Scroggins as an individual "Scroggi" (sounds like scraw-guy).  That didn't last forever, but at camp, Jotham is still the "Scrog-guy" and Jericho is now the "Scrog-girl".

Sarah works at a restaurant where they wear name-tags.  Just for fun, they are always changing what's written on them.  On any given day, you can go in and find her being called "Destiny", "Sugar", "Maradonna" (during the World Cup), "Shawn" or "Amber".  Around here she's knows as "SaraJes", "Cera", or "Sarie".

When I was eleven, my baby brother Derek was born. (known as "Sunshine" and "D" to my mom - "Bradford" to they guys on the job)  We were pretty close growing up, and still are, for that matter.  When Derek was about four, there was a particular little girl that was his best friend.  She had an older brother, my age.  When Derek heard her call her older brother "Bubba" he picked up on it.  When he started calling me "Bubba" we thought it was cute.  And now, twenty-five years later, it still slips out in conversation when he's not paying attention.  

Now I am sure that for many people, the nickname "Bubba" brings to mind a flannel-shirted, red-suspendered, snaggle-toothed trucker with a beer belly, and a tobacco stained grin.  But when I hear it, I go back to the eighties, and my baby brother thinks I am the coolest big sister around.

Does God have a nickname for me?  I am sure He does.  Though I can't decide what it might be.  I do know that He often reminds me -- "Child, you are 'Mine'."  That 'nickname' means a whole lot to me.

I hope I am not the only one who does this.  Now and then, when I am in that place between awake and asleep I hear my mother's voice calling me like when I was a child.  Usually I hear "Tauna", as she calls, like I'm running late for the school bus, or forgot to do the dishes.  Only occasionally, I hear her say, "Come on "Sassafrass" let's go..."

What nickname do you hear?