Everyday Canvas

May 28

For "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" 

Prompt: How do you feel about giving children nicknames? Do your children have a nickname? Is there a story behind the nickname? If not what's the strangest nickname you've heard?

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I never thought about that. All I know is that some natives, for example American Indians call one another with names that fit the people for either the way they usually behave or pointing to an incident. For example, “he that runs faster than the wind.”

I never gave my kids any nicknames, either. Except, when my husband and I wanted to talk behind their backs, we referred to them with nicknames only known to the two of us. That trick worked beautifully.

Then, kids give nicknames to other kids, too. My older son used to call the younger one Appy and the younger one used to call the older one Googie. Lol!

One thing comes to mind on nicknames. When I was young, a friend of the family used to call me NoshNosh, which has nothing to do with my name, and I have no idea what he meant by that. I didn’t mind it but it annoyed my mother to no end.

So if anyone wants to attach a nickname to a person, beware of their mother!

For: "Space Blog" 

Prompt: Stormy Lady ’s "Invalid Item" , a
poem about something every parent goes through: empty nest syndrome. What was it like for you? If you have no children, what do you think it would be like?

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Hahaha! Such fun those things that Stormy has detailed about child raising! I can certainly relate to just about every single one of her items as I, too, have done all that. Yet, the empty nest syndrome?

We never had an empty nest because we flew the coup altogether. When my kids grew up and one was just about to start college and the other one had just graduated as a chemist and had started interning (working), retirement popped up for hubby and me. We decided to move to FL from NY, and the kids wanted to live on their own. The older one rented a flat and stayed in NY, and the younger one moved down with us to rent a place in Palm Beach because he wanted to attend college there. At the same time, we bought our present house about 45 miles north of the younger one’s place. It was a busy time because these things happened all at the same time, almost in a few months.

I think the one who really felt any blow was my younger son, as he was 19 at the time. Yet, looking back, he says he’s happy he began living on his own at an early age because he thinks he learned a lot more about life that way. He certainly has traveled and moved all over the country since then.

Having said all this, both guys have always known that, should push come to shove, they are always welcome to take a room in their parents’ place.

I guess, at the time, we all got too busy to feel that empty nest thing. Yet, now, I have only a cat to keep me company. Surely, I miss my family, but also, I love solitude.