"The Circle of Life"

As we get older and our kids grow up, we forget how fascinating children can be. But then grandchildren come along and it starts all over again. At least it has for me. My granddaughter Genna is now four years old and my grandson Walker will soon be two. They are the most fascinating children I can imagine (and that's not prejudice, just fact).

Genna talks up a blue streak while Walker is a man of few words. The big news this weekend was Walker's name for Genna. "He calls me Cookie," she said. "He can't say Genna so he calls me Cookie."

I asked her if this meant she wanted us all to call her Cookie now. "No, Pooh," she said very seriously. "You don't call me Cookie. Only Walker calls me Cookie. I don't want anybody else calling me that. I don't like it. But he can call me that cause he's a baby."

It crossed my mind to tell her that she will probably end up being Cookie to him for a lifetime and the rest of us might join in. That's usually how nicknames get started. In fact that is how her name of Genna got started.

Genna is named for my mother whose name was Virginia. When she was a little girl her brother could not pronounce her name so he called her Gena (pronounced gin-a). It stuck for a lifetime. Very few people ever called her Virginia and she certainly preferred her family and friends call her Gena.

When Genna was born my son and his wife wanted to name her after my mother, but they were afraid if they named her Gena that people would pronounce it "Gee-na" so they went with the G-E-N-N-A spelling.

My name is also a nickname, well not a nickname for me but rather for the Uncle for whom I was named. I was named for my Uncle Aubrey. My mother told me that although this was his name, no one liked it. So she and her brothers and sisters decided to call him Jack. Now don't ask me why. There is no logic in changing Aubrey to Jack but that is what they did and it stuck. 

I know that all my life people have called him Jack and I always referred to him as Uncle Jack. So getting back to my story, when I was born my mother decided to name me after Aubrey and call me Jackie. On my birth certificate it is JACKIE KERSHAW COOPER.

It is amazing how difficult it is for people to call me Jackie, now that I am a grown man. I will introduce myself as "Jackie Cooper" and they will reply, "Nice to meet you, Jack."

It drives me crazy. I want to shout "JACKIE!!!!!!!!" I guess they think only little kids can be called Jackie, but what about Jackie Gleason, Jackie Robinson or even Jackie Cooper, the star of "The Little Rascals"?

Here in a later phase of my life my name has changed again. It is now Pooh. This was what my son Sean wanted his kids to call me. My wife is Nana and I am Pooh. Maybe I should make it Poohie just to be consistent. But you know what, they can call me anything they want. They can even call me "Cookie."

 

 

 

 

 

©2004 Jackie K. Cooper

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