Mavis, Maude, and Magirk

Another idiosyncrasy of my father's was to give people names other than their own. My three children were given the names in the title of this BLOG. I know that Phil was Magirk. I don't don't which daughter was Mavis and which was Maude.

Well, we discussed this recently, and I found out that my father didn't really give names to everybody. I know this because Emily, Lori, and Micah, didn't have names given to them by my father, other than "son" for Micah. But then dad called almost every male he couldn't remember the name of "son." So, what does that make Micah. The only son of his favorite child, my brother? It makes him invisible, a non-remembered person who was just there in his face from time to time, and of whom he didn't remember his name, so he called him son. Poor Micah. What a terrible thing for him, don't you think?

Actually, until I put it in print, I don't think Micah even thought about being a nameless entity to my father. He probably through that his name was "son" when he was at my dad's house.

But, Micah, don't be offended -- he called Phil "son" more often than he called him Magirk. And the girls he just called them "sis". He just didn't feel like going through the whole list of names, like I tend to do. So "son" and "sis" sufficed for his older mind.

I hated what he called me, but it was my given name, so I put up with it. I would have preferred "sis". His wife? He never forgot her name. My Rose -- that's what he always called her.

ttfn