What's in a nickname?

Have you ever had a nickname? If not, let me know and I'll give you one.

My grandpa used to call me The Man in the Moon. Why? No idea. I'm a girl. I've never been to the moon. I should ask him sometime.

In elementary school my nickname was Einstein. I was kind of a nerd. Ok, I was a nerd. But that nickname was much better than Beached Whale. Kids can be so cruel. I've lost touch with that friend, but I hope she has forgotten her nickname from grade school.

Monkey. I used to climb a lot in college. Super high energy. I like monkeys so I didn't mind that name.

When I think about my current nickname, I smile.

T$ can be translated as T-Money, T-Dollars, T-Quetzales. The irony is that the green stuff that we all wish grew on trees has nothing to do with my nickname. Sure I like having enough money to support myself...to share with others...like Potter's House (There will be plenty of posts about PH in the future so stay tuned)...to buy my favorite songs on iTunes...to vacation in the mountains...but T$ isn't special because of money.

Just under 2 years ago, one of my favorite persons, B, decided that I needed a nickname. T-dog. That stuck for all of 3 days. It just didn't fit. I look nothing like Snoop. How 'bout T$. Perfect.

B was popular. People listened to B. He had a way with words. Soon my boss began calling me T$. Then my close friends. T$ is special because the people that call me T$ are special. Not just anyone calls me T$. You have to know me pretty well to use my nickname...or some variation of it.

One day another one of my favorites, A, wanted to be different so he called me T-Shift4 (figure it out?). He found out pretty quickly that I didn't like that. He resorted to T-Dollars. That's special. What's even more special is almost every time I call him now, he answers with "Dollar dollar bill, yooo." That probably means nothing to you. But it's special to me. He's special to me.

Quetzales is the currency of Guatemala. I recently got back from a missions trip where I built a house for some beautiful people who live in the Guatemala City garbage dump. Yup. There are people in the world that live and work in a garbage dump. I went down with 9 other people to join God in His healing of the world. Antonio was the master construction worker/missionary who showed me how to stucco, use a power drill and build a stove...among other things. Antonio heard my nickname, but wanted to be different just like A wanted to be different. TQ, short for T-Quetzales. TQ is special. Antonio is special for many reasons.

F and D call me $, no T. Just $. D has tried to make T-Party stick because he wants to be different too, but it hasn't yet.

A lot of people call me T, no $. Just T. I got to spend time with one of my favorites today. He calls me T. He has AIDS so sometimes he forgets my full name. T is easy to remember. We ate delicious apple pancakes with our friends and played UNO. It was a glorious day.

As I finish writing, I notice that most of my nicknames were given to me by the male species. Interesting. I don't want to exclude the ladies in my life. They are just as special. I suppose I have a few nicknames from some special women. Just less unique than from the gentlemen.

Gram calls me Babe. She's a SUPER special woman.

Girlfriends call me Hun, Sweetie, Honeybear...ok, not honeybear...just wanted to see if I could get a reaction.

I have a friend who works at Potter's House who recently nicknamed me Bite Size. Her explanation. Think of a mini snickers. It leaves you satisfied, but wanting more.

Nicknames. Special names given by special people.