An Angel and a Nickname ~ Sissy…

William Hazlitt wrote ~ Of all eloquence, a nickname is the most concise.

This I have come to know as a great truth.

My Mom, who just turned 90 years old, still has a nickname – not to many anymore – but a nickname that has lasted her lifetime.

She was “Sis” to her all who knew her as a child, a young woman, a member of a very large family with lots of siblings and cousins. She still IS “Sis” to her siblings, albeit “Rita” to everyone else.

I would be gifted with a variant of the same nickname by my Dad. He called me “Sissy” from a time I cannot even remember – a name I came to love more than any other name. I loved it because I loved having the same nickname as my Mom. I loved it because I had two brothers, no sisters, and it designated me to a very special place of family honor…

No-one outside my family called me Sissy. It was sacred. It was concise. And yes, it was eloquent. If my Dad called me for dinner, or was on the other end of the telephone, or woke me up for school, or left a note for me…

Sissy, it was.

When my Dad died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1975… my name Sissy would leave this earth with him, but for a few scraps of paper with such everyday perfection of life messages that I cherish to this day.

I was 22 years old the last time I heard my nickname in the voice of my Dad.

It would be 38 years later that I would hear the voice of an Angel ~ with a name, a nickname ~ that I thought I would never hear again.

My daughter Audrey’s husband Matthew and their 4 boys nicknamed their new baby sister Sissy. It took my breath away to hear this name, this concise, beautiful, eloquent name from so, so long ago ~ from the hearts of 4 boys, 4 brothers, who just adore their sister ~ their Sissy…

My Dad’s Sissy, too. My Dad’s GreatGrandBabySissy.

I know my Dad whispered this nickname. I just know it.

An Angel and a Nickname… Sissy!

Yes, there are always Angels and Angel wings and Angel bells and Angel whispers among us!

Always.

I now hear my Angel Dad’s voice through my grandchildren, and nothing could make my treasured nickname more special.