Erin Peterson and I have been over and over this: her birth name is Erin. Who? Erin.
Back in the 'hood days, I already had an "Erbo" from high school, Erin my cousin, "Aaron the boy", and, of course, she was "Erin the girl". Lame. I can give better nicknames than "Aaron the boy" and "Erin the girl". Thus, "Aesop" and "Petsie" were commissioned and to this day remain in tact on official reports to the census.
Fast forward to tonight, where I have the great privilege of meeting Petsie's MTC teacher and her house guests. We are requested to go around and say our first name and favorite alliterate food. Everyone looks perplexed, so I readily volunteer to start. I've done this before, so the answer was obvious: "Hi, I'm Amber and my favorite vegetables are most definitely asparagus and artichokes." We proceed around the room and Petsie is starting to get nervous--nothing is coming. "What do I say, Amber?" she asks.
"Oh, that's easy, don't you like peas? No, how about pears...uh...peaches [blank stares from Petsie]...pickles?"
"Amber!" she retorts somewhat forcibly, "my name is not really Petsie!"
According to her, you'd think I was a schoolgirl being told for the first time that Santa Claus was not real. Forget time for sadness, I remained in shock. Needless to say, Jamie hurried and whispered, "Eggnog!" for which Erin was grateful and quickly repeated. Meanwhile...I was still putting together what an "e" word had to do with one of my best friends. A rose by any other name [than Petsie :)] just doesn't smell as sweet!
