And Now A Brief Message From... Dad (Terms of Endearment)

I just thought I would get in on the fun before the end of the month and it looks like I just got in right under the wire.  I do want to say before I start that it's a bit distressing that Down Syndrome Awareness Month is the same as Breast Cancer Awareness Month but it's been fun educating people on the subject and it's an interesting discussion when someone asks you about Breast Cancer and you come back with "Did you know..."

Well, on the subject of my post:  "Terms of Endearment"... It's not just a really good very sad 80's flick starring Debra Winger.... It's every little wonderful memorable strange cute and not so cute names we call the important people in our lives.  For instance my oldest daughter we call Rissie (Reesie), her name is Clarisse, which I've always wanted to name my first daughter (I know what you're thinking but you'd be wrong... I got it from my favorite book of all time "Fahrenheit 451")  but I never wanted her to be nicknamed Clair so we call her Reese and it has stuck (Thank Goodness!).  Then our next daughter is Cadie short for Cadence but I'm a musician so sometimes I call her Cadential or Dential for short so you can see the madness involved in nicknames.  Well our last lady is Reagan and she's just a blessing to our little family as you can see from the above video as she helps Shauna sightread the main theme from what else "Terms of Endearment".  I'm good aren't I?  (You don't have to answer that)  Well we've been taking to calling her Rae Rae which is cute and she loves it.  But, when she was first born I had another nickname for her.  A name that was dismissed by a few people not the least of whom was none other than her Godparent himself.  I used to call her my Downsy or just Downsy... I know horror of horrors right?!  What was I doing?  What kind of weird grief stage was I in to be able to do such a cruel thing?  Who knows the answers to these things but before we get into a knock down drag out fight on what's appropriate and people first language I should say that I've never been a person who really cared about political correctness... When she was born there was a lot of angst, fear, and sleepless nights.  She was my little beautiful blessing with Down Syndrome.  I loved her and I wanted to protect her and take care of her like my other ladies and that's what came out!  Anyway, like I said earlier now she's our Rae Rae and she's growing so fast (since her heart repair she's just growing like a weed!) and she's playing the piano and running around and she's just like her sisters.  And I know that as she get older and more independent the old nicknames will fade away but I know she's always going to have that little extra and maybe when I think back on when she was just born I'll allow myself to remember her as my little Downsy.