I have this thing whereby I feel a real need to refer to my closest friends by names other than the one they were given.
"Tallulah" is a nickname I have given a very dear friend of mine who convinced me to start this blog. Her real name is nothing close to Tallulah, but if I had been in charge on the day she was named, it would have been Tallulah. She loves being called this; it makes her feel exotic. Kevin, I affectionately call 'Booger' and it in no way is a reference to anything olfactory and is not a passive aggressive stab at him either. But he has become my "Booger". Courtney is one of three friends that I have kept over the years, since high school in fact. We went to a small private school on the island of Maui, called Seabury Hall. I lived on campus.....a side note, I was sent there about 2 weeks after I came "out" to my parents. You interpret the message there. Courtney and I have very few boundaries when we are together and there is no topic off limits, no joke too taboo and our honesty with one another has endeared her to me. She is "My lil opihi"....opihi's are limpets, small round and conical, they are found on the lava rocks that skirt the beaches of Hawaii, and can be eaten. They are a delicacy and recently the Hawaii government has limited the amount one can harvest. Opihi's hang on to the rocks with fierce determination and perhaps their loyalty to the lava, their sheer determination to hang on despite all the pounding of the waves, connected, in my mind to Courtneys approach to friendship. She has become, My lil Opihi and she is as loyal as any I have ever known. Tallulah, Booger and lil Opihi have all captured a place in my heart that decided they needed their own private name. I don't just rename anyone, unless you cut me off on the highway...then I rename you VERY quickly. We should all have someone or two in our lives that are worthy of a nickname that captures what they mean to us....allowing true expression of "intimacy and affection". I wish this for all of you.
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