Before I actually get into the meat of this entry, I have to transcribe this conversation going on around me. We are all sitting around the dinner table finishing up family dinner*.
Mike**: "Somebody named their kid Jihad."
Johnny: "He's going to grow up to be a warlord."
Danny: "That'd actually be a pretty sick name."
Johnny: "I want to name my kid Genghis."
Just a normal family conversation.
I forgot how hard it is to find something to blog about every day. I could keep an account of my daily activities but all I did today was wake up at 1 PM, go to see my friends, dye Easter eggs, and eat dinner. Obviously those activities are riveting material for a blog post. If I was wittier I'm sure I could make my boring daily activities sound interesting but, alas, I do not have those skills. I am much more of an introspective blogger.
Well, here we go***:
Over on 5AG**** this week the topic for the videos was nicknames. Since I go by several different names I thought I would take this opportunity to explain. I have always felt that names are very important. I am one of those people who has a Word document on my computer of names that I have collected over the years. I suppose this is part of the writer in me as I use it as a resource for character names. But I think my interest in names originated because I have so many and also because for two months I had no name*****.
My name is Rosalee. I am named after the patron saint of Palermo, Sicily. St. Rosalia was a hermit in a cave in Sicily. Four hundred years after her death, when the plague came to Palermo, her spirit appeared to a man and told him where to find her remains. She ordered him to find her remains and process them through the city. The man did as she instructed and the plague ended. Pretty cool.
Not many people actually call me Rosalee, though.
At home, my father will call me Rosebud or Rosebee. My siblings have several nicknames for me including Buzz Newman, Rosalbee, and Beehouse. Mainly, however, my family calls me Bee******. Bee is one of those nicknames that is strictly for my family with only a few exceptions for close friends who have become like family.
My friends all know me as Pip. Or Pippy. Or Pippa. Or Pipskies. This may seem like the most random nickname (although not anymore random than Bee for a girl who doesn't have a B anywhere in her name) but this one actually makes sense. "Pip" is merely the first syllable of my last name. I don't know how Pip caught on as my nickname but it has become so common that most of my friends at school don't know my real name*******.
And so those are my names. Rosalee********, Bee, Pip. I am the living proof: A Rose by any other name...
* I am sitting in the armchair right next to the dinner table. Our house has an open floor plan so I can sit in this armchair and be a part of every conversation going on in all the most important rooms of the house (kitchen, dining room, and den)
** Mike is not actually a member of my family. He is our neighbor and my both my brothers' best friend. He is the sort of family friend that comes over unannounced at all hours and is always welcome, like on a sitcom. If he is out of milk at his house, he comes over with his morning bowl of cereal, uses our milk, and leaves.
***I am still warming up my daily blogging skillz (with a Z) and so I am going to shamelessly steal my blog topic today.
****5AwesomeGirls
*****When I was born my parents couldn't decide on a name for me. They took me home and tried out several names such as Giovanna, Francesca, and Domenica. Obviously none of those stuck and so for two months I was simply "the baby."
******Don't ask. It's one of those young kids giving their baby sister a random pet name that somehow stuck.
*******Until we become official Facebook friends...we live in a Facebook world, folks, and nothing is real until it is Facebook Official.
********I forgot to mention the Rose nicknames that go along with Rosalee. Rose and Rosie are also fairly common among extended family and some friends.
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