Nicknames

Nicknames. We all have them. Sometimes they're funny. Other times serious. Some are terms of endearment. Others are just to bug the living snot out of our friends.

I've never been good at coming up with nicknames. I'm just not creative in that line of thinking, I suppose. If you have one, I'll use it, even if it's not a real name. I call my great-grand little Super Baby because she calls me Super Mama. I'm rather good at using terms of endearment. Instead of coming up with a nickname for a boyfriend, I'll just use terms of endearment. It's easier I suppose, since I'm never good at coming up with nicknames. Lots of my friends go by names that are really nicknames of their given names. I think that's kinda neat. Most of these are ones that they've fashioned for themselves, although I do know on some occasions where even the parents call them by their nickname. My dad is one of these people. As the oldest male child, he is named Gerald after his dad, but has always been called Jerry so as to avoid confusion. But sometimes, nicknames aren't names that we actually go by, but are just used when necessary.

Like mine.

I have no idea when it started or who started it, but people have always called me Rach. I have never asked to be called Rach, at least not that I remember, but I've never minded it either. My parents never really use it, but a lot of other family members, mainly on Dad's side, have used it at one point or another. There's a lot of us on that side of the family, so when we get together, there's always a lot of activity. So lots of times, it's easier to holler out "Rach" to give me some sort of instruction. Over the years many different friends have called me that. Lots of times without asking if I've minded. The truth is I don't mind, but I always find myself thinking "how did they know?" the first time they call me that. I remember a friend's mom calling me Rach, and I'm pretty sure that my friend didn't even call me that, or rarely called me that. I know, I know, Rach is a very common nickname for people named Rachel, but somehow, growing up I always felt like it was something that only people close to me could use, people who knew me really well.

Two weeks ago, I found myself once again with my Dad's family. Everyone was there. My cousin got married, the first wedding we've had in our family in 25 (?) years. Because of everything going on, only the granddaughters stayed at Gigi's house. We ran around doing extra behind-the-scenes work with our mothers, the aunts of the bride. I remember at one point, I think it was even the reception, Amanda calling me out onto the dance floor. "Rach! Come on!

I froze. Not because I was scared of the dance floor. Oh heck no. I was tearing up the dance floor that night, in my Duke flip-flops, because heels were not happening that night. But because she had called me Rach.

You see, nobody here calls me Rach. I don't know why. I don't know if I've given people the impression that I don't want to be called it, but nobody calls me Rach. It's always Rachel. I hadn't been called Rach for the better part of the year, perhaps even longer. It was almost tragic, that that part of me had been missing. There was an intimacy in the name that I hadn't realized was there. And I was sad to think that even though I have a lot of great and close friends here, that I didn't share that part of me with them.

So you can call me Rach. I wouldn't use it as a replacement for Rachel, after all, that's my name, that's what I go by. But if the mood suits you, and you need to get my attention quickly (as is usually the case when my family uses it), you can call me Rach.

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOiVaE-pKqM&feature=fvst