The Power of "Do"

Growing up my father had lots of nicknames for us. Tom was Boop. When he was little my dad would bounce him on his knee and say "Boop boop dee do" and Boop just stuck, even when he was 30. There was also the classic "Son". My mom was hardly ever referred to as Mary Ann, she was always "Mare". Somehow I inherited the motherload of names, ACE was the most common. One Christmas, I was about nine years old, he bought me (Amy Elizabeth Center) a monogrammed sweater. With the big C in the middle it looked like my sweater said ACE. And so it began... "Acey-cakes", and "Ace is the place" were his two favorites. Followed by Baby-Cakes, Scooch, Schoochy-doo, Miss, and Missy, all very endearing. My brother still calls me Miss and my mom has her own version, Amykins.

Then John enters. He is just John. No familial nicknames, not much in the way of silliness during his childhood. In an odd way and unbeknownst to him, there are times when I think he is channelling my father. He borderline bores us (my mom and I) with historical facts about every town in the tri-county region as we drive through them, so much like my dad. When this happens my mom and I roll our eyes at each other and smile a smile that says, "they would have loved each other!" We used to make fun of my dad and say he was a bastion of (useless) knowledge. They would so get along, most likely trying to out-bore, ahem, I mean out-do the other with their knowledge of useless facts.

John has once again channelled my dad. Luke is rarely referred to as Luke. He is L-Train (a football player reference), Mr. L, Bubby, Bubby Brewster (another football reference I think), and Bubbs Bubberton. Then there are all the "Dos". Mr. Do, Bumble-Do, Bubby-Do, Bubbs-Do, Luke-Do, and the classic "Do". Let's not forgot who we have become. I am Mama-Do, John calls himself Dada-Do and my mom is Grandma-Do. We are the family of "Dos". We go to Sleepy-Do, wear Diaper-Dos, take Tubby-Dos, and drink Baba-Dos.

Am I stretching things here, looking too hard for a connection that maybe isn't there? Well you see my dad was a Command Master Chief in the Seabees, a division of the Navy. Seabees or CB for Construction Battalion, are the ones who rebuild after war, or go to underdeveloped countries to build roads, bridges, put in plumbing or electrical services. Their motto is "Seabees Can Do". They have "Can Do" spirit. They "Do".

You tell me? Is this just coincidental? Regardless it warms my heart and yet again I am so blessed-do

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabees