Oh, my!!! LOL
Oh, where to start?!...there have been far too many over far too many years. I suppose, like most things, a good place to start is in the beginning. That means starting with Jody. He's gonna love this! NOT! LOL
When Jody was born I was 17 months old. Mother said I sounded like a little German when I said some words. Wash rag....foshtag. Deo-dle...deodorant. I forget the rest. Anyhoo, Jody learned to talk listening to me talk which was probably not the best learning experience he could have. LOL So, when he began to try and call me by name...Debra became Derwayne. Don't ask me, I haven't the first clue, but there you have it.
Unkind children at school took notice of my "unfortunate" hair at some point, and for a time, specifically at Halls Ferry Road Elementary School, some of those unkind children, mostly boys, called me MopHead. I'm not sure I'm over it to this day, the hair OR the name!!! Offenders, and I remember who you are, shall remain nameless. But I DO remember!! Be very afraid. Bwahahahahh!!! LOL
Back in the 1950s and '60s my Momma was a young/cute HOT thang!!..with the shape to prove it. I always envied her that shape. I have pictures, ask me about 'em some time. LOL Anyhoo!..she had the nickname "Wiggles". Some time down the road a piece when one of my first boyfriends needed what he thought was a good nick for me, and he called her Momma Wiggles, and me, Shaky Pudding. Those of you who were alive/watching movies all that time ago will remember Burt Reynolds, when he had hair, but before he had the mustache, in a movie called "Gator". Yep, THAT movie!!..and THAT nickname!! Google it. You'll find it funny to watch now. We're all so old and jaded. LOL
I don't think I had a nick after that for a long time, unless it was while I was in USAF. John Blaine called me "Ma" for some odd reason. We shared a 3-bedroom apartment in Tucson, and I was the only chick so I guess I was the "mom" by default. It was the 1970s....that should explain it a bit. But Crowl and BigJohn/Bergman didn't call me that. I worked out with them at the gym on base. They helped me get to the point where I could lift my own toolbox. LOL Those suckers were HEAVY, and I wasn't in any shape to do that for myself, so they put me into their version of a training program. Part of their "program" included playing basketball, and I had one hell of a hook shot back then. They called me Hooker.....LONG before William Shatner was a cop named TJ on a POS TV series.
I changed my name about twenty years ago, and while I won't go into the whys/wherefores, I will say that it had less to do with my birth circumstances and issues than it did to do with my desire to be separate and apart from a failed marriage and too, with being somewhat covert in my lifestyle outside that marriage. So, I "became" Dannon Ettinger Barrett. I picked that name for myself with the intention of using the nick "Dani", and too, because I could use my monogram/initials and still retain the "DEB" part of my identity. That part didn't go over particularly well with my family but they haven't had to live with the decision, and I have. So, for the past twenty years, mostly I've been called Dani....except for a small town in Mississippi where everyone knows you by your name...and your people. LOL "DEB!!!". There ain't no runnin' from it. LOL
About six years ago, I came to Columbia, South Carolina to learn how to be a sober person. I went thru a program of treatment for alcoholism at The Salvation Army here. Six months after that, I became employed there as well. I continued to live "on campus" there until I moved out about two years ago. During that time, alot of people like me, lost in some way or another, came thru the different programs offered there. I worked in the Welcome Center, that also functioned as the "mail room". I was exposed to nearly all the residents at one time or another. Most of the residents, and nearly NONE of the staff could say "Dannon", so Ms. D. I became, to most of them, or Dani, to those who could wrap their mouths around that part. Except for ONE guy that came thru, and he shall remain nameless, who's chief concern during his first 30 days was "so..what's the story with the old blonde?!". LOL I thought he should be more concerned with his recovery at that point, but that's just me, I guess.
'Nuf sed...supper's ready, and this old blond has SLAVED in the kitchen this day. Quiche/florentine.....Chicken/filet biscuits....I'm DONE with this part of it. Onto the end of this day. There must be SOME game out there I haven't played yet. LOL
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