Dear John,
There it is.
I called you "Jack" yesterday and you said to me, "No, me John."
And then when the Fords came over, I asked again what you would like to be called and while you did tell the Fords to call you "Batman" you also said, plain as day, "My name is John."
I get it.
I'm letting go of the Jack. The Jack of Hearts Halloween costume is no longer in the works.
You are John. I named you John and it's a really nice name.
But I liked "Jack" better.
I have this secret plan to go back to calling you "Jack" at some point. But for now, to help the world see your preference and to give you the respect of following your simple wish, I call you "John."
Because you asked and because I love you. And because baby boys have to be allowed to grow up. And mamas who don't get that raise really terrible men.
So for the man you will become, here's to John.
Love,
Mama
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It's going to take some getting used to, but ok.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the story on naming him John Patrick but then calling him Jack anyway? I tried looking back at the history on the blog and couldn't find it.
Jack has always been a traditional nickname for John (think of JFK). It comes from the middle ages when all babies had to have saints' names in order to be baptized in the Catholic church... only so many names to choose from meant lots of men named John or James or Michael or Henry or women named Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth, etc. All of the funny nicknames (Hank for Henry, Betsy for Elizabeth, Peggy for Margaret and Jack for John) came out of a need to have a way to tell one person with the same "given" name from the others. :)
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