Logan came bouncing in the front door, eager to give John a big red paper heart and a Valentine card he’d made himself. John found out he wanted to play on the computer first, and after that they read a book. It wasn’t until after he left that John and I realized he had included a “thank you” with every single request. That might not have been true a week or so ago. Shawn and Bob have worked on his manners, and suddenly they seemed automatic.
Several weeks ago John told me of a very interesting radio interview. He didn’t hear the beginning or the ending, so he doesn’t know who was talking. The subject of that segment was why you call your children by the wrong name. It seems people file names in folders in the brain. There are folders for coworkers, friends, family, etc. When you are calling your child by name, you go to the family folder, but you might come up with a sibling’s name. Once in a while you get your folders mixed, and that’s why you might say the dog’s name instead of your child. However, you never call a child by the cat’s name. It doesn’t seem politically correct, but that’s what the person said.
I was glad John shared that interview with me. I was really taken by surprise when I heard John stumble and call Logan by grandson Nathaniel’s name. What do you make of that? Could there be a grandchild folder? If so, Logan may have slipped in there. Just for the record, we are available for adoption. If anyone wants to adopt us as grandparents, you know where to find us.
Mehrling Muse 
My mother always called me Hilda, which was her sister’s name. For decades! Sometimes she called a grandchild by the wrong name but not too often. I think she had a “lady” folder she worked from.
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LOL! That is amusing. Did you mind being called Hilda???
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No. My Aunt Hilda was an amazing person.
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Cute story…my mother and aunts would call me by my cousin’s name and her by mine. Both our first names begin with the letter M. They blamed it on that.
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Sounds like a good excuse to me.
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My mom calls me by her sister’s name quite often. I also know I am guilty of running down the list of my son’s names to get to the right one. I thought it was good I didn’t have more than three.
I have a feeling there are lots of kids who would love to adopt you and John as grandparents.
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I hope you don’t mind being your aunt from time to time. As to the boys, at least if you called one by the wrong name, it would be a masculine name. John $ looked at us funny when we called him Lise or Kate. Can’t blame him.
We got behind in the grandchild game. John’s sisters have nine and seven respectively. Even my brother is ahead with three. The only way we could get more is to be adopted.
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I do not mind at all being called my aunt’s name. She is only 12 years older than I am and actually was one of my bridesmaids when I got married.
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It wouldn’t surprise me to see you inundated with requests Anne. Lots of youngsters don’t have or don’t live within reach of a grandparent.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx
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I pity children without grandparents in visiting distance. Ours live 800 miles away, but we see them fairly often.
xxx kiddy hugs xxx
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Little Logan is growing up so fast! He is a cutie-pie for sure!! My children are all grandparent-less (yes, both sides of the family) so I will ship them out to you. The middle is already in NC, out in Jacksonville.
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What a shame your children are without grandparents! It would be great fun to meet them. Please send them some old hugs from us. Well, fresh old hugs, not stale ones. Let us know when they are coming and what they like to eat.
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I agree, they are way to young to be with out grandparents. Unfortunately, it’s been that way for quite some time now. I will send them some good hugs!
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Thanks for the hug relay to your children.
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Anne,
I would love to have you as grandparents but you are not old enough to be mine but as I don’t have any living ones, I would love to adopt you as my younger grandparents. I miss my own grandparents badly.
I am glad you have little Logan as a young grandchild to keep you company some days at least. His craft work is really good. It was very loving of him to make a card for John and you. BTW, John seems to have lost a lot of weight, – is it because of all the walks ?
Susie
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We would love to be your alternate grandparents. Here are some hugs: (((((((((())))))))))
John has lost some weight because of portion control. Some photos are more slimming than others, but he will be pleased that you noticed.
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Thank you Anne and John, my young grandparents. My grandfather would have been 100 this year, if he had been alive. He died in 2010.
Susie
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thakyou for your faithful posts I miss sbs i knew Barbara and thomin in sb you are very fortunate to have lobgan Love Louse
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I remember seeing you on campus from time to time. Everybody knew everybody back then. Barbara and Thom retired last June, but both are teaching one course this semester. John was in Stony Brook a week ago for a funeral and had lunch with them in the dining hall. I’ve enjoyed the pictures you post on Facebook. Thank you for reading my blog and commenting. It’s wonderful to reconnect with folks.
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This folder theory is quite an interesting one… In addition to being grandparent less myself, my (future) children will be without a paternal grand mother… Sounds like I’ll know where to look when I need grand parents for them 🙂
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Keep us in mind. It should be fairly easy to grandparent via blogs.
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awwh-such a sweet story! and I always mix the names same two of my children-out of five
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At least you are consistently wrong! I’m whacky wrong.
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That’s funny! I never gave any thought before to the whys or hows re this confusion. My late aunt often called me “Edie” – her youngest sister’s name. The only thing in common, I guess, was our first letter being the same. Also, and for *this* I must be careful – I tend to confuse my daughter-in-law with their DOG sometimes! Ay yi! Well look: her name is Lucy. But the dog’s name is Lily! Need I say more?! 😀
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You have a very amusing problem. Both names begin with “L”, and both have four letters. I don’t envy you. Good luck!
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AND both end in Y!!!!! 😂😂😂😂
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I missed that. Yes! Both end in Y. Impossible!
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