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What's in a name?


Wheelerswife
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Long ago on YWBB, someone started a post on board names.  What is the story behind your board name?  Some might like to be more generic in describing their name to keep anonymity, but lets tell the stories.  Also...if you have changed your name, why did you do it?

 

My name has been Wheelerswife from the beginning of my time on the board.  My first husband used a wheelchair for mobility and used the name "Wheeler" as his screen name.  I, therefore, became Wheelerswife.  I've never changed my name before...when I got married at 30, I'd been signing my name professionally for 8 years and I couldn't identify with a name change, so I kept my maiden name.  When I married John, I didn't change my name either.  In keeping with my tradition, I haven't changed my board name.  I did have another account on YWBB that I used for one thread only when I was about 5 months out the first time.  I needed to vent about something very upsetting and didn't want to let on that it was me.

 

John's board name was polarbear.  John was an Arctic climatologist and had spent a significant amount of time in the Arctic, especially when working on his doctorate.  He loved polar bears and winter and all the snow and cold....hence his name polarbear.

 

Maureen

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So my late husband hated any kind of squashes (zuchhini, summer squash, etc) he'd call them Squish. I almost never called him by his given name (shared with his dad); I called him Pumpkin.  A pumpkin is technically a squash, so therefore, I became MissingSquish when he passed away. Seemed to roll off the tongue better than "pumpkins widow".

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Remy is the rat in the movie Ratatouille. If you've never seen it, it's about a rat who dreams of being a chef in Paris. Our first trip together was to Paris, and Mark loved to cook. When he would start picking out fancy recipes, I'd call him Remy. I have an email from him where he said, "I hope you don't mind if we have the pork chops for dinner tomorrow night instead. I found an Alton Brown recipe I want to try, and it needs to marinate. ~ Remy" It still cracks me up.

 

We went to see it in the movie theater and didn't care that we were the only adults there without kids. (Same goes for Toy Story, Wall-E, and Cars...) There's even a scene where they show the window of a book store, and you're supposed to focus on the book called "Anyone Can Cook"... but next to it was a book by "Chef Mark". When we went to Disney World, we looked all over for a Remy souvenir. (Apparently, not everyone loves Remy as much as we did.) He finally found a Remy stuffed animal and he now sits on the top of my kitchen cabinet.

 

My old YWBB profile picture was from that trip to Disney World. We went to Chefs de France, and Remy came out to serve us our dinner. My new picture is from the Philadelphia Flower show. If you look closely, Remy is under the chef's hat.

 

Writing this brought back a lot of really nice memories. This is why this community is so important to me - sometimes you just need to retell your stories.

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Guest Bear1956

I just happen to look like a bear. A lady I worked with at a nursing home in the early 80s said I looked like a grizzly bear. I had a long zz top beard and my hair in a ponytail to my lower back back then and it was not grey yet.  8)

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Guest littlebirdie

My paternal grandma's name was Birdie. I spent a lot of time with her when I was little because both my parents worked, and since I was always half a step behind my grandma, her friends called me "little Birdie." I am actually 5'9, i.e. not little, but it was the only name that came to mind when I registered.

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My brother and Ben always called me Del...nickname for Donell....

 

Ben had nicknames for everyone...Mine was either "Delightful Del" or "Del del my Sugarbell"--which he would sing usually when he was stoned and it always made me laugh. So I wanted a username that would make me smile...So Sugarbell it was.

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My partner and I had weirdly similar first and last names, which became one of our major talking points when we first met. Our friends had even given us the same nick names even though we grew up on opposite sides of the world! Every time we'd introduce ourself to new people they'd go ha! "Chris and Chris!" I am sure you can probably figure out what initial our surname started with...

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I love to read.  Whenever Rick had chemo, was in the hospital, at the clinic or we were on a plane flying to another hospital... I would read.  Waiting in the carpool line to pick up my son, I would read.  It was my escape.

 

I read a series of books and one of the characters in that book was called "Simi"... She was girl who was carefree, surrounded by an aura of mystery.  She was someone who was misunderstood by everyone around her.  So, when I logged in, the only thing I could think of was Simi.. I added Red, cause I have red hair.  "SimiRed"

 

 

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When dh went to a restaurant he used the fake name "Earl" to be put on the list to wait for a table.  In my extreme grief, I really considered the name "GoodbyeEarl"...but decided that my dark grief humor might be too much for some... didn't want anyone to think he had abused me or I had killed him like the Dixie Chicks song. (DH would've thought that name was hilarious though!!!!! )

 

So instead, I settled for a reference to a Robert Earl Keen song (which only one person here has recognized independently that I know of)  DH and I spent our courtship in Texas dancehalls, the song "No Kinda Dancer" talks about a person that wasn't a good dancer, but their partner made them a good dancer.  At the end of the song, there is an old man dancing alone without a partner, and the singer is glad that he has a partner.  DH taught me to dance, and now I'm dancing alone wishing I had a partner. 

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As long as I've been posting in online forums, I've been Jer-- that was what my sister called me when we were kids, and I started using it online to differentiate myself from the 900 million other Jennifers out there. My family usually call me Jenni, but Jim called me Jen. He was the only person who called me that, so when I registered on YWBB, I wanted to make sure it was clear whose Jen I was-- I was Jim's Jen, and I thought I always would be.

 

I wrote a post sometime late last fall... I'd started to lose the sense of him. In the early days, he had seemed to stay so close, but he was slipping away. I didn't dream about him, I didn't feel him. Finally, one day I realised that he was gone. That wasn't a bad thing-- he was done, he'd gone on to whatever comes next. His business with me and this life was over. And I was left. Not his anymore-- not anybody's. Just me. Just Jen.

 

That's where I am now. I still cherish a tiny hope that someday I'll belong to someone again, but as we all know, in the end, all we have is ourselves. It terrifies me to think I'll be alone for the rest of my life-- when it gets unbearable, I think of Dune, one of Jim's all-time favorite books, and the famous Litany Against Fear:

 

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing....only I will remain.

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5 months after we married, we moved to Indonesia. I raved about the fresh fruit my kitchen maid would prepare for me every morning to my sister. When I got pregnant while living there, my sister emailed me once and the title of the email was "Hi Mangomom". It stuck. I have used that for many online screen names and user ids.

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IMG_1269_zpsgzpi818i.jpg

 

That's the tat I got soon after Jamie and I started seeing each other and I had fallen deeply in love with her.  She was my North Star, and my email address was Stargazer74.  I wrote tons and tons of love letters to her from there, none of which survive now, (thanks yahoo).  Its also because I actually do love to go out on clear nights and star watch, especially during meteor showers.  We would go out together and lay for hours in the back yard, talk and dream.  I have wonderful memories of us together, counting falling stars and naming constellations.

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My screen name was derived from our would - have been daughter's name and our wedding date.

 

Bailey was his great grandfather's name. We decided our first daughter would be named after him, but spelled, B-a-y-l-e-e. We married on June 27.

 

Interesting thread topic:)

 

Baylee

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I've always been drawn to Tweety bird and I've been using it on and off on many sites and it's just natural part of me. 76 is shockingly my birth year :)

 

Wheelerswife: I too married in my thirties (32 to be exact) and much like you was so used to my own name (which sort of was a brand for me too because the combination of my first and last name is very rare) I couldn't loose it after all (I gave much thought on "going under radar" by taking his name). Instead, I added his name after mine. My cousin laughed at me when she learned my new name that "so you couldn't give up your fathers name, then". My reply: Nope :)

 

Love this thread! Thank you for starting it!!!

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My name on ywbb was MissingMyTim. Not very creative and chosen for obvious reasons  With the new board I decided on a new name.  It describes where I'm at in most areas of my life life right now.

 

I'm trying to be a better mom

I'm trying to work through my grief

I'm trying to figure out my future career

I'm trying to keep my house together

I'm trying to figure out my finances

I'm trying to make a new relationship work

I'm trying to get over anger

I'm trying to exercise more

I'm trying to eat healthier

 

 

The list goes on and on.  Sadly there was very little in the "Succeeding" category, so "Trying" it is.

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Mine is pretty evident. But the background is that my late husband got his Captains license (for boating) when we were married and he switched careers - to become a rescue Captain after having worked in real estate for his entire career. He so loved working on the water but unfortunately this new career led to his demise. He was the one who introduced me to boating and taught me to sail - which I am active in now. And I am thankful for that.

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Hachi was my board name on YWBB, and was the nickname of a Japanese Akita - Hachiko- some thing about lucky eight -  I think, anyway this dog was famous for his loyalty to his owner, waiting for him at the train station everyday, even after the man died. He became kind of a national symbol in Japan. There was a movie about it.

 

I sort of felt like that dog, waiting for him to come back. It's a little ridiculous, I guess I always knew he was never coming back, but my heart just didn't get it. I don't feel that way much, now. But eight is supposed to be a lucky number in Japan, so I keep the name...

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My husband and I had a hundred million pet names for each other. While I sometimes called him by his real name, he rarely used mine. So much so, when he said my given name, I stopped in my tracks. I knew what he wanted to say to me was important. Serious. Demanding of my full attention.

 

"Mister" was one of my playful names for him. It became "Mister Man" when I wanted added emphasis.

 

I thought about using one of his nicknames for me as a screen name. But I wanted it about him and my relationship to him. MrsMisterman was born.

 

 

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I rowed competitively when I joined the old board and I was a stronger rower when rowing with a port side oar. Port is YOUR right, it's the coxswains left. Actually, I can row pretty well both sides - I'm  "bisweptual."  ;D

 

Mike

 

 

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I registered just a couple days after losing my husband so my brain was pretty scrambled. My first name begins with a K, and my cat and very best buddy Mouse was sitting beside me when I was registering...kmouse was the best I could come up with. Not much of a reflection of personality, but it always reminds me of my sweet Mickey Mouse.  :)

 

Kelly

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Guest tableforone

I loved reading all the stories behind the names.

 

My name? I don't really remember how I chose it. I remember after I went to my first giant bago in Fort Lauderdale, Raymond told me that I was no longer tableforone but tableforforty.  I loved that.

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