Nick-Named Strangers

(First off I'd like to state I DO in fact have Easter pics but they are on my camera and I can't find the cord to download and my front port on the computer tower doesn't work, so anyway, I promise I will post them, just not today)

Ok, now I'm sure people use nick names. We all get them, earn them, give them...whatever. At some point in life we have them around. Some of us are nick name givers and some of us are getter's. Some of us just use them but don't really get or give them. Me...I'm a giver. I can't help myself. I don't intend to do it, but it just happens.

What about those names we give people we don't know? I have a habit of naming people I don't even know, I guess that's where I do most of my name giving.
How strange, you might say to name people you don't even really know. Well, maybe it comes from moving a lot or maybe in place for a familiar person that you don't really know or want to know but have a reference for.

For example, I had a neighbor in Texas who was very odd. She had 7 children, would think nothing of being outside in a nightgown at any hour and was well... a little odd to say the least but I won't bore you with more details. One day she comes to my door and we are chatting. She is going on and on about her life. (I said she was odd didn't I!) and she mentions she was a dancer then pauses. 'Oh, I could see that.' I say. She says, 'oh, why?' Well, um I was being polite but also she seemed petite and delicate so sure I could see that. I say 'you just seem petite and like you could be a dancer.' What does she reply..... 'In a bar.'
Ok, now with a comment like that she was just asking for it. Ever since then she was referred to as 'Pole Dancer' I'm sorry. I can't help myself. Sean says 'Which neighbor honey' and I reply 'Pole Dancer' Even now, in my head she will always be remembered as 'Pole Dancer'

Now that isn't to say there aren't lots more people I don't actually know that I've given names to. There were the three women at Ft. Bragg that I mentally called the 'Three Amigos'. They would walk to pick their kids up after school just like me. The difference is they would hike up a huge hill together and then stop at the top for a smoke break. It seemed like for months I would trudge by at my speed walker pace from the direction of my house and mentally smile. 'The Three Amigos' Ironically enough I did end up befriending one but in my head they will always be 'the Three Amigos'.

Now here I have noticed I'm doing it again. There is a man. He runs by the path behind our house every single day. The funny thing is I see him there and then I see him again on the path by the school when I take Jack in. He must run the loop at least twice if not more every single day. In my head, he is 'marathon man'. Yes, each day I see him chugging along in his black shorts and black coat with the blue sides I think, 'Oh there goes Marathon Man.' Its like I know him but only because I see him more than most adults. I have never talked to him, because he's whizzing by but I smile and mentally think. Marathon Man.

Do you name people? Do you think of people one way in your head and have a private name for them? I think we all have our own thoughts, mine just come with titles. Now, someday maybe I'll learn marathon mans name, but for now its kind of just nice to see him chugging along as usual. They are the constants in my life that I give a name and mentally awcknowledge each time I see them. It's kind of nice. I wonder what they would think if they realized each day someone sees them and thinks of them. They are part of my life and make me smile but they don't even know it.