Wheat...

My nephew Wheat has a blog. I wanted to comment on his first story and realized I had to sign in to my account first. It was then that I realized I still have a blog. It's been a VERY long time since I have written anything. I was using this as a diary of sorts but after reading Wheat's story, I'm wondering if I can work on my writing skills by telling stories - true stories of my past. Stories that make me happy, stories that make me mad (still) and stories that make me sad...I think I will do that.

The Story of Wheat...

My oldest nephew's name is NOT Wheat. Not even close. His name is Justin yet I call him Wheat. I have called him Wheat for 22 years. How does one get Wheat from Justin? Let me tell you....

When Wheat was born, my dad for some reason called him Jason. My sister would get so mad at him, "Dad, his name is Justin NOT Jason!" So, after a while my dad started calling him Buckwheat. "Let's go Buckwheat," was the common phrase heard from my dad in the years that Wheat was growing up. I decided to start calling him Wheat. When Wheat was about 5 we were just hanging out. Out of the blue he asked me, "Are you always going to call me Wheat?" He looked up at me with those big blue eyes. "Yes, I will always call you Wheat." I answered trying not to smile. I could tell that this was a very serious conversation that we were having.

"Will you call me Wheat when I get big?" he asked. "Yes, I will." I replied.

"Will you call me Wheat when I play sports?" he asked. "Yes, I will." I replied.

He thought about it for a minute and then made the following statement. "I will be playing football and you will yell 'Go Wheat' and people will wonder 'Who the hell is Wheat?'" At that point I busted out laughing. "Oh honey," I explained, "people will know who Wheat is."

In the past 22 years I have cheered him on in various sports and I have yelled, "Go Wheat" on numerous occasions and EVERYONE has always known who Wheat is. No one else calls him that but me. Well, actually, that's not true. Most (if not all) of my friends call him Wheat because that is all that they have heard me call him. Some don't even know his real name.

I love my Wheat - he is the person that first made me "Aunt Ginny"