Terms of Endearment

Besides being called by our given name, so many of us have sweet nicknames which are loved ones call us. Today I've been thinking a little about fun nicknames due to some names I was called at work.

Sometimes my dad calls me honey or sweetheart. When Lori- my sis who is 15 years younger than I am- was little, I used to call her "Lori- Bory" then I realized how that didn't sound nice, so I started to call her Lori-Glory and that has stuck! (It is certainly better than her very first nickname which was "Oofus", a term of endearment given to her by our other sister. That sis would call her "Oofus" since our mom said "oof" due to the occasional difficulty of moving during her later months of pregancy).

Sometimes I've beed "Ta" or "Etah" by younger siblings who couldn't pronounce my full name.
Many of the relatives from India refer to me as "Vanita", the way they pronounce my name.

So the names at work: most of our patients will call me my name, Juanita. Every now and then, someone will sing me a few lines of an old-fashioned song called Juanita. It is sweet when they do this, though I feel funny as I'm so not used to people singing TO ME. As in my job, I have the chance to work with delightful older people during a hard time in their life, as they recover from disease or injury, some of the words I've been called include: Torturer, Terrorist. But also been called an angel and someone else told me God Will Bless me.

The words today that stand out:

~ Wicked Witch of the West (a unique gentleman calls me this). We joke back and forth and I say I want to be Glenda but he insists I'm the Wicked Witch of the West. I still think Glenda is more appropriate since in the Wizard of Oz, Glenda's goal was to help and encourage people to get home! If only regaining strength and function and returning home after health challenges was as simple as clicking a pair of shoes.

~Dreamer! that made me happy. We worked to encourage a lady to do something she didn't think she could do, and she said, "you're a dreamer". I said no, we are realists as we think you can do this certain movement. She agreed she lacked confidence. She felt I tricked her into attempting this action. Yet she did it!!! It is good to be a part of helping people do things they didn't think they could do and to hopefully help install a tiny bit more confidence in the journey home.

Gosh, there was another word and I can't remember it! I have had name-finding hardships today. Well if I remember it, I can come back and edit!