Chickenbutt, Bobin and Dude

Do you have nicknames at your house?

Sharaya tells it like this -

"One day Dad took Beth, Diana and I to Kmart but the 3 of us decided to wait in the car while he shopped. We were just playing around and Beth and I kept calling each other Bob (like Bob the Tomato from Veggie Tales). She got really hyper and started saying 'Bobby, Bobbo, Bobba, Bobin!!' I said, 'Bobin'? And she said, 'Yes, B-o-b-i-n! Bobin!' And it just kind of stuck. So we've called each other Bobin ever since. I think I was about 12."

To this day, they still call each other Bobin.

We were teaching Sunday School last week and Diana called Beth Chickenbutt. Chuck and I didn't think anything of it but Theresa, a high schooler who was helping us raised her eyebrows and slowly asked, "Chickenbutt?"

Typing the word does make it seem rather... odd.

But at our house, it shows love and a bond that can't be broken.To be honest, I don't remember how or when this came to mean,

"You are important to me and I love you."

But for Beth and Diana, that's exactly what it means.

When Beth walks through the house, on her way from her bedroom to the kitchen or laundryroom, and she sees Chuck she says, "Dude." Won't look at him, won't go over and give him a hug, just keeps walking and says, "Dude." We don't know why she uses that term, don't know where she got it from or when this all began but for years now, he's been Dude.

As he's walking up the driveway at the end of the day, she will run out to the yard to give him a hug and welcome him home. She sits at the kitchen table and gives him her bowling score for the day or will tell him the song (complete with track number!) she sang at karaoke. But walking through the house, casual, relaxed, happy in her world, he hears, "Dude."

And he always responds with "Dudette!"