Aunt Marvine

Ever wonder what's in a nickname? I do, and frankly, it fascinates me. My own personal nickname is Mo, which is short for Maureen, and for as long as I can remember that's what people have called me. My family, teachers, coaches, even my high school principal. When I left for college, the nickname stuck even though none of my high school classmates went to the same school. And finally, at almost 30, most of my coworkers call me Mo.

I'm cool with it. I've grown into it and I like it. Occasionally though, I thought it was a bit unusual and it made me self-conscious. However, this was all long before I met my husband, who is apparently surrounded by people who consider nicknaming a sport. Chew on this list:

• Buzz
• Sparky
• Punk
• Stumpy
• Coondog
• Skeeter
• Schoolboy
• Fuzzy
• Popper
• Snuffy
• Bartley
• Hambone
• T-bone
• Railroad (you know who you are)
• Roscoe
• Double D
• Buck
• Fatty
• Tree
• Big Cheese
• Peg Leg

Now I've been informed by P that some of these are CB handles from way back that stuck. But most of them are nicknames that others simply made up. For example, "Fatty" is a nickname that was given by friends and is used regularly in lieu of his real name. I think they even shorten it to just "Fats" from time to time, but I would need Railroad to confirm this.

Walking into P's community of friends and family, I was known as only Maureen. It didn't take long though and I was given a new nickname. It all started when an uncle of P's mistakenly thought my name was Marvine. It was one of those situations where I had let it go too many times to turn around and correct him. So I just let him call me Marvine and hoped he would hear someone else call me by my real name. Enter another one of P's uncles, who was visiting from Florida. He heard the first uncle, his brother, call me Marvine and made a big show of how "her name is MOOORRREEEENNN, not Marvine." I was mortified and instantly became Marvine to a small circle of P's family in on the mixup. P's younger brother shortened it and now just calls me Marv.

So today while grocery shopping, I found myself stuck behind two women with two carts taking up a large section of the aisle. It was clear that the younger woman was helping the older lady with her shopping:

"How about some chicken noodle soup? You like that."

"Let's wait on the cocoa powder. We're going up to Amish country next week and you can get it cheaper there."

"You normally don't like pickles."

"The flour is right down this aisle, AUNT MARVINE."

Aunt Marvine! It's a real name! I laughed out loud and then quickly pretended that one of the coupons in my hand was hilarious. Odd as it sounds, it was somewhat comforting. It means that I have people in my life who would have laughed along with me had they been there. People I wouldn't know if I didn't marry P. And perhaps in my old age, I'll be able to count on one of these people to take me to the grocery store and remind me that I like chicken noodle soup.