When you're a kid, any little thing can hurt your feelings enough to stick with you through adulthood. For some of us there is one specific hurtful thing that continues to follow you decades later. That's what siblings are for!
When I was in first grade, we were asked to bring our favorite book to class. Excitedly, I looked through my shelf and chose a book that I had always loved called My Goodnight Book. Just like it sounds, it's about getting ready for bed and all the steps that a little girl goes through; brushing teeth, listening to a story, etc. But the best part is that my mom always said that the little girl in the book looked just like me. Eager to share with my class, I brought the book to my mom in the kitchen where she was giving my brother and sister breakfast. She smiled at my choice and grabbed a Sharpie to write my name on the spine of the book. Oh if it weren't for that Sharpie, maybe if she hadn't been listening to my younger sister whine, maybe if she had gotten a better night of sleep, maybe if I wasn't gabbing on and on about taking the book to school, maybe she wouldn't have accidentally switched the last letters in my name o-d-y to D-O-Y. Maybe then, I wouldn't forever be stuck with the ugliest nickname in the entire world. Relentlessly my brother would tease me "Mom doesn't love you! She doesn't care if she spells your name wrong, DOY!" I would cry and cry and tattle on my brother until it got so bad that my parents decided to start a "Doy jar." Into the jar went a dollar for every time he would call me by that name. Unfortunately this did not break his habit, and year after year I lived with it. Sometimes it was Doy-Doy, or Mel Doy, or just a loud DOY any time I would make a mistake or do something dumb. This name has tormented me my entire life, thanks to my brother. Ive gotten used to it though by now, and I don't mind so much when he says it... I've come to realize that tormenting each other is what siblings are for.
7 Comments
3/22/2017 06:39:05 pm
Aw, I hope it does feel a little better now. When we don't like something, we don't like it, child or grown up!
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3/22/2017 06:40:03 pm
LOL...that's what brothers are for. My brothers deemed Sunday, "Pick on Rita Day." They still have fun trying to get my goat, only they can't push my buttons so easily any more.
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3/22/2017 06:59:47 pm
I love this story! That's what brothers are for, right? Sidenote -- I have always secretly wished for a nickname and never had one. The grass is always greener : )
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Kelly Dennis
3/22/2017 07:05:41 pm
Aw Melody! I'm glad you gave your mom some slack, mom brain is real!
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3/22/2017 08:17:28 pm
Nicknames are a tricky thing, aren't they? They can be endearing, but then they can also be taunting. I'm glad you are getting over it, but I'm sure it was tough at the time. Wonder what sparked this slice today.
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Michelle Strezo
3/22/2017 08:40:25 pm
It is crazy how something so trivial ends up meaning so much!
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3/23/2017 01:19:16 pm
oh, Doy, I love this story. I can just see you there in the kitchen with your mom, gabbing on and on, just like my own kids. And the Doy Jar??? Oh my gosh, I love this story.
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Author5th grade teacher, wife, mama to my 3 magical babies, ally, advocate, doggy foster mom... just stumbling on. Archives
March 2022
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