Nicknames and Dreams

I haven't had hardly (seems I need another "h" word, but we'll go on) a moment to write this week. In the evenings, my computer has been taken hostage (there we go) by the eldest son and his endless homework assignments. (I was marvelling at the extensive access to information and images that students nowadays have. He even copied off a photo of our property from Google Earth to accompany an assignment on how his family came to be in this farming community.)

Today, there are just two things lingering around in my brain that I feel I must get down before the eldest returns home from school and usurps the computer again (Hardly - it is, after all, the weekend, and he will probably fail to recall that he has any homework until Sunday afternoon or evening).

I have spent most of the morning taking care of doctor appointments. I returned for a follow-up after having a whole slew of hormone levels tested. The results? I am deficient in Vitamin D, ferritin (the conveyor, or "ferry" of iron - which is why I feel like I have anemia, despite the clinical diagnosis never being verified), T3 and T4 (thyroid hormones), progesterone and testosterone.

Following that pleasant appointment, I scurried off to another location for my annual mammogram (significant ouch, this time!). Thankfully, the second visit was quick and I even felt I had enough time to stop to shop for a birthday present for Trevor (whose birthday is fast approaching).

All of that, is preliminary to my two pressing thoughts.

When I returned home, John had the two little boys set up with lunch. I filled them in on my action-packed morning and then asked after theirs. Trevor was supposed to have a Teddy Bear Picnic at school today, so I assumed the commentary would be fairly interesting. I wasn't prepared for quite how interesting the commentary turned out to be.

He raved about his treasure box treat (a plastic bat - right up his alley) for a week's good behavior. Then, he began to regale me with the story of a book the teacher had read called "What Color is Your Underwear?" (Every kindergartner I have ever known, loves the word "underwear" and any stories that treat the topic!)



It must have been an entertaining book! Then, Trevor non-chalantly said, "I told them that my mother's nickname for me is "The Naked Elephant!"

I was mortified. I have never in my life called that child an elephant, let alone a naked elephant!

We ended up discussing nicknames and I revealed a nickname I had been given back when I was in middle school. The other kids called me "Hairy Wendell." I had not shaved my legs yet, and had no intention of starting. Another nickname from those middle school years also came back to me. My brother, Mark, and I were the first two players in the trumpet section of our middle school band (all boys, except for me, the only girl, in first chair!) and thus, they took to calling us "Mork and Mindy."

I suppose neither of my nicknames were traumatizing. My husband was called "Soup," because until he was thirteen, his mother cut his hair and it often looked like it had been cut around a soup bowl on his head (I think my sister actually put a bowl on my younger brother's head and cut his hair once, when they were at a sitter's house).

How about you? Did you have an embarrassing nickname? Did your child ever attribute an embarrassing nickname that you hadn't really given??

The second thing I cannot seem to shake from my mind is the feel of a dream I experienced last night during my sleep. It was one of those dreams where I felt safe and connected and thoroughly valued. For the life of me, I cannot stop trying to hit rewind and get back to the feel of that dream all day today. It is haunting me.

I begin to think that it must be something of significance, since I yearn to get back to that spot so strongly. The taste wasn't long enough. It left me wanting a full course, instead of merely an appetizer, one that vanished with the dreadful break of day.

Have you ever had a dream like that? Did you get to the source of its significance? Were you able to finally replicate it in real-life, in the day-to-day moments that linger?

Now, I'm off to tend to "the naked elephant" and his brothers and to prepare for tomorrow's garage sale (besides purging endless paper for "the naked elephant's" recycling drive, I have also been busy purging anything and everything to hopefully bring in some extra quarters to cover the exorbitant costs of complete labs these days - over $1300!). Wish me luck and another good dream tonight.