ToT: What's in a name?

Hello friends, family, fellow bloggers, and Internet public in general. I'm back..I do apologize for my brief hiatus.  This week on ToT we are writing about nicknames. "Did you have a nickname growing up? How did you get it? Do people still call you by that? If you have kids, have you given them nicknames?"

Okay, so I think this entry will be a pretty easy one for me to address, but I just have to mention that I'm actually blogging right now because my little boy is going to his first day of Kindergarten tomorrow, and I'm a nervous wreck.  I need something to keep my mind off of it. Also, I was trying to be a super mom and perfectly wash his new "first day to school T-shirt" that he has to wear tomorrow.  It came out of the dryer really wrinkled. So, being supermom, I ironed it.  Well, the iron decided to vomit water/steam stuff all over the sleeve of the shirt.  So, now I'm washing the shirt again, and drying it. Blogging is helping me stay awake during this process, and taking my mind off of the fact that my son fell asleep while yelling, "I don't want to go to school tomorrow!!"  Fun times.

Nicknames.  I have had so many different nicknames it is not even funny.  It's actually a little weird.  One of my best buds and I loved to give each other different nicknames for some reason.  Really, only one nickname (well, okay, maybe two) have stuck with me for the majority of my life.  Here is the complete list in order from least known to most used.

• Mitchell. Yup-a boy's name.  Not sure why, but for some odd reason, my mother has always lovingly called me Mitchell every now and again.  She doesn't do it all of the time, but she has done it as long as I can remember, and used it enough that I would consider it a nickname.  Guess she's allowed though since she is my mom. "She brought me into this world and she can take me out," as Bill Cosby would say. Just don't ever call me Shelly in front of my mom.  She has always hated that nickname for Michelle and never allowed me or any of my friends to use it.
• Shelby. One of my best friends growing up, called me this. It all started with her little sister.  My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I think it's because her little sister wanted to call me Shelly, but that was not allowed (see above) so she decided on Shelby instead.
• Bubba. Yes, I know, it seems like a strange name for a girl.  My best friend and I called each other Bubba and Bubba-Doo for a while.  Not sure if I remember why this came about, but we only called each other these names when no one else was around.  It was an inside joke, but now I can't remember the joke.  Wow, I'm getting old.
• Lizzie. Okay, so the weird only gets weirder.  More weird. Whatever. There was a group of about 10 or maybe even more friends that I had in junior high/early high school that played this game called "Monkey Tag."  Monkey Tag is a game that is played at a playground.  One person is "it" while the other people are the "monkeys."  The "monkeys" must always keep one part of their body touching the playground equipment at all times.  Yes, I know in your head you are thinking about how cool of a person I was when I was 14.  Anways, it was good clean fun, and something to do when we were all bored over the summer.  Back to the nickname part. My best friend's mom always drove all of us kids to play monkey tag. We would pack as many friends as possible into her mini van . We always joked that we were all her kids, and she was our adopted mom.  So, she gave us all new names-names that she would have used if she had any more kids after Leah was born.  My name was Lizzie.  For some reason, I can only remember three other people's names-Laura was Emi, Ben was Seth and Jason was Gabe.  Even today after not seeing some of these people for 10 plus years, we still use these names. We called each other the "family."  I told you it was a little weird.
• Jiggler. I have to remind you all that my maiden name was Ziegler.  One of my closest friends in high school and I were extreme note writers.  We passed notes a lot.  We only ever had one class together which was orchestra.  Let me tell you, you can't really catch up with someone through a spoken conversation in orchestra class. Notes are essential.  We would pass notes in orchestra, and in the hall between classes all of the time.  We would write stories about real people and also make up stuff.  They were quite hilarious.  We would also try to make up the longest one word (read a lot of words smashed into one long word) sentences ever.  My friend's maiden name was Mathis.  She called me Jiggler and I called her Mathass, but only on paper though. Never spoken.  I'm not sure how it came about, but we still use these names occasionally. Only in writing as per tradition.

Last, and certainly not least: Ziggy or Zig. This is probably the name that most everyone called me in high school.  In fact, by the time I was a senior, it was kind of weird if someone other than a teacher called me Michelle.  It started off in about 8th grade.  My 8th grade science teacher, Mr. Reed, who would go on to become a cherished mentor and dear friend, dubbed me Ziggy one day in class.  I think it may have even been the first day. It stuck.  He was a cross country coach, and would cheer me on using the name Ziggy.  Michelle was a very common name in my junior high (I think there were about 8 or 9 Michelles), so I liked it because it helped me stand apart from all of the other Michelle's.  Zig stuck with me all the way to college.  A lot of my college friends just called me "Ziegler" instead, but some would still use Zig.  Now that I'm a "Quags" it seems strange to me when I run into someone from high school or college, and they call me Ziggy.  It takes me a minute to respond.  I kind of miss it a little bit.  Whenever I hear it, I always think of Mr. Reed.  He was a great teacher.  He moved from the junior high to the high school when my best friend Leah and I made that change, too.  He gave her the nickname "Leah Lynn."  I think he's the only one that really called her that though.  He was one of the only reasons I survived high school.  My high school was a big place, and I was a shy, quiet, timid person.  It would have been very easy for me to get pushed around and lost in the shuffle if it wasn't for Mr. Reed.  He gave Leah and I his prep room as our home base.  Our lockers freshmen year were about 4 inches wide and four feet in length.  That is definitely not enough room to fit a huge cross country equipment bag, a viola, required text books, and school supplies.  I would have had to lug all of that from classroom to classroom had it not been for Mr. Reed.  He was always there with encouragement and advice if needed.  I know he also helped a lot of other students that were struggling in their own way.  He gave me an identity when I was struggling to find out who I was, and stand out in the crowd. Mr. Reed recently passed away. Leah and I attended his funeral.  His family members didn't know who we were when we introduced ourselves until we said "Leah Lynn and Ziggy."  I will always remember him as one of the best teachers a student could ask for, and a true friend.  He also had a wicked sense of humor.

As for my kids' nicknames.  I only have a couple.  When I was pregnant, one of my relatives asked me if I was going to use the nickname, "Sammy" for my son.  I scrunched up my nose, and said," no, it will be Sam."  Little did I know, I would most certainly call him Sammy nearly everytime I talked to him or referred to him. I still do.  I think it's starting to embarrass him a bit, so I'm trying to use "Sam" instead.  I also call him Buddy a lot.  I didn't realize how much until my two year old daughter started calling him, Buddy, too. "Buddy, are you okay?" "Oh, it's going to be okay, buddy."  It so stinking cute, but I'm not really sure how I feel about that.  I think of Buddy more as a dog's name than a nickname for my kid.  Oh well, what can you do? As for Mia, I call her "Mia-Pie" a lot.  Not sure why, but it just seems to roll right off the tongue.  I also call her "Missy Magu."  I'm not even sure if that's the right spelling.  My mother-in-law called her that a few times, and I've since used it as well.  I'm sure as time goes on these names will change, and as they get their own identities and friends, they will be called something else.  Maybe there will be another "Quags" in the future.