Yesterday, Brenda asked how I became Aunt Debbi. See that tall blond in the picture above. It is all her fault. That is our Meme. Back in the day I called her Rhonni. We met in jr. high school and have been best friends for thirty years. She even gave me a BFF key chain a few years ago. In that picture, we are 16-her and 17-me, the petite brunette. She became my drill team little sister in high school. I just decided to keep her.
In high school, people get a lot of nicknames. My family has always called me Deb, but in high school, I became Debbi. It was the 80's I could spell it silly if I wanted to.
Now, Meme started her family early. She had twin daughters when she was 20. Because she had the first babies and she called me Debbi, Aunt Debbi I became and have stayed.
I have 20 nieces and nephews and two grand nephews. The grand nephews are the beautiful boys of Meme's twins. They call me Aunt Debbi too. The other 16 nieces and nephews call me aunt Debra or Deb, not nearly as cute, but I answer to just about anything.
Obviously, I have a very large and fertile family. We have one more niece on the way this winter. You should see family dinners, it's a zoo.
I was wondering about that too, thanks for letting us know. :) I use to be in the drill team when I grew up in TX too.
ReplyDeleteHow sweet! Does Meme have a blog? I'll be she could tell a lot of good stories about Aunt Debbi!
ReplyDeleteWell, thanks for telling me! I had just always wondered about that. You two look so innocent and girlish and sweet.
ReplyDeleteBrenda
Wow, I'd just assumed it was because you were aunt to your siblings' kids before you became Mom to the Monkeys. What a great story---and what a great photo! I'm "aunt" to my best friend's twins, too, as well as my siblings' kids.---Silence
ReplyDeleteRacquel, Did you have to wear short cowboy boats and a funky hat?
ReplyDeleteNola, no meme does not blog. She used to comment, but her computer is down and she does not really care about getting it back up.
Brenda, We were right then. All hell broke loose in a couple of years later when I went off to college and she followed me with her little family.
Silence, I enjoyed the title of Aunt for ten years before I got brave enough to have my own.
What a great story!
ReplyDeleteYou both look so great in that photo!
So positive, beautiful inside and out and ready to make the world better by you being in it!
That is just the best!
Philip
Why, thank you philip. It has been a beautiful friendship.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to earn a name! I had lots of nicknames in school, but earning them from friends who feel like family is the best way of all.
ReplyDeleteWhat a real blessing to share so much between best friends. That is a long time to be buddies.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you posted this Deb, because I'd often wondered about it. I sensed it was more than just being Aunt Debbi to all your sisters' broods.
ReplyDeleteAnd how lovely it is that a friend thinks of you as family. We're in a similar situation with friends of my husband's (now my friends too of course). We're invited to his daughter's wedding next year. Now it's rare for friends of the parents to go to a wedding round here! However, we first met Jenny when I met her parents for the first time on my first holiday with hubby whilst we were courting, 26 years ago.
Hubby's friendship to the father goes back much further - 44 years!
Sweet story to explain the name. It is so nice that you two have stayed friends for so long. I think it is great that your large family can get together. I bet the holidays are great fun.
ReplyDeleteJan
Always Growing
Hey sis,
ReplyDeleteGo to www.thecutestblogontheblock.com for some fun backgrounds for your blog.
Love the picture! So very 80's. Ahhh...those were the days..
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun family!
Why yes I did and our uniforms were similar to yours too. Those were some great times, had a blast!
ReplyDeleteHI cinj, yes it is.
ReplyDeleteAnna, I wouln't know what to do without her.
vp, Friendships like ours are as precious as family in my book
Jan, as the holidays roll around I will be posting more on my large extended family. Things get a little crazy
Hi Sherry, The 80's were fun, but some of the fashion choices, yikes.
He sister, I did it. How do you like the background I picked.
Hi Racquel, wasn't it fun. Although I do remember some cold friday nights on the sidelines.
It is a memorable time in my HS days. You're right though, it could be quite chilly on those sidelines in those short skirts. We won't even talk about having to do the splits in mud, lol.
ReplyDeleteor knee spins on astroturf or how much ozone we depleted with all the hairspray or boots kicked off across the field during high kicks.
ReplyDeleteNow we know! I love large families. We have 5 kiddos so I'm hoping for 'zoo like' family dinners someday!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me, lol! I think I must of gone through a zillion pantyhose too. We use to spray them with hairspray to make they less prone to runs. Did your team ever go to drill team camp at SMU? We also did some competitions in San Antonio, that was fun!
ReplyDeleteMy lord I forgot about the pantyhose. My school sent us to Kilgore, you know, the Rangerettes. It was some serious stuff. Competition was held there. We did get to perform at some Dallas Cowboy and Mavricks games. Maybe we should do a cheesy drill team double post. I've got some awful pictures.
ReplyDeleteinadvertentfarmer, With 5 kiddos, you are so going to get crazy zoo dinners.
ReplyDeleteWe performed at a Mavericks game one year. The Rangerettes are legends in TX, I think every drill team wanted to be them. :) That might be a fun post. I have a scrapbook of my drillteam years. It's fun to look at and my eldest son told me I use to be hot, lol. See what I mean, I feel your pain. ;)
ReplyDeleteRacquel, Teenage Monkey looked at that picture and said we were both "sort of pretty" Let's do it and relive the glory days. We can even open it up to other bloggers' high school memories.
ReplyDeleteSounds good Deb let me know when you want to do it. lol, that was a compliment coming from teenage monkey. :)
ReplyDeleteCool. I need to get down the scrap books. How about Tuesday, or is that too soon. I will stop by your blog so you don't have to keep checking this comments in this post.
ReplyDeleteI could probably do it Tuesday. I just need to dig my old photos out & scan them. Are you thinking lots of photos w/a few words?
ReplyDeleteRacquel, I have only been able to load up 4 photos per post on blogger/picasa. Obviously, we have found quite a few words just in the comments. What fun this will be. I can smell lipstick.
ReplyDeleteOkay sounds like a plan. I think it will be fun too. Red lipstick! lol :)
ReplyDelete