Happy Monday Digital Neighbors! I hope you all had a good weekend. I had my first weekend at Queen of Peace and next weekend I will be celebrating Mass at St. Anthony of Padua. It was an excellent weekend, I enjoyed meeting the parishioners and praying with them. I look forward to getting to know them, a few have already earned some nick-names from me.

Nick-names are an interesting experience, they can be playful, endearing, funny and sometimes mean and stigmatizing. Names and nick-names can carry a weight of meaning with them, or they can be utterly nonsensical, it really depends on the Namer and the Named and their relationship. In the the Judeo-Christian world the name of God is sacred. The Lord doesn't really give Moses an answer as to His name from the burning bush. I am, Who I am. Are you Popeye, Lord? Any-whose-it, the name is more of a riddle than a declaration. Lord become the standard replacement word for the name of God which is mysterious. The Lord and whatever He chooses to reveal about Himself is for our good, not His. God does not and never will need us, but in His kindness He invites us to question, seek and wrestle with the meaning or meaningless of life, questions of self and all the other ponderings that stir in an awakened mind and curious soul. Sorry, sounding a preachery. Back to nick-names.

My Mom's side of the family (The Lavin and their hyper-Irish vibe) loved nick-name and giving them to family & friends. Most of them were funny & playful but some could be a little heartless. Mine as Too much Tom, The Lord Mayor of Ireland. A bit of a pretentious name, especially that whole Lord Mayor bit, for most of my childhood I had no idea what a Lord Mayor was. My other nick-name from Mom was pogue mahone. Mom thought it meant pain in the ass, but we came to find out much later in a life during to tour of Ireland that it meant kiss my ass. I have to say I am even more fond of that nick-name and it captures a certain vibe I have for the overly critical and unkind that cross my path. God bless you and pogue mahone!

As a child in Elsberry, I was always Little Miller. My brother Joe & Jerry were well known in town and most everyone knew I was their little brother. For the most part that was a great arrangement, I was generally left alone by any would be bullies or older ass-holes because no one wanted a locker slamming encounter with Jerry or Joe. They had exclusive beating rights on me. I don't think I had any real enduring nick-names in grade school. I was called Mother Hen and Lex Talionis in the seminary, for two aspects of my personality. I tend to care for people's well being in providing drinks, asking if they are hungry and cleaning up after them. I blame Grandma Lavin, that was one of her real gifts to all of us when we visited her. I was called Lex because I always had a comeback, I was well trained in the school of "If you give'th shit, you must take'th shit." Some of my friends thought that I was less than kind in my verbal retorts. I probably was, I was still working through some of my own personal shit and the rough edges often bled over into humor and nick-names. At least I wasn't afraid to apologize when I took it too far. That was a fortunate lesson to learn earlier in life. There is nothing playful about hurting another's feelings, however if you are easily hurt you probably won't get any nick-names or playful interactions with me. I will think of you as fragile and treat you with gentle indifference.

As the good people of QOP & AOP get to know me they will earn their pet-names, nick-names or catch-phrases that I use for them. Thus far we have Tuuts, Whirlwind and Caravaggio. I couldn't remember Frank's last name. Caravaggio came out as something close to it and he laughed. Close enough. As I write this, I think of all the all my friends at New Melle and their endearing and fun nick-names. I pray for them every morning and miss their closeness and familiarity, and I hope they are blessed in all the changes they are experiencing in life.

Happy Monday ADD Irregulars, WSN Revelers, Black Sheep, Friends, Refugees, Phamily, Misfits and all the rest of you known and unknown wanderers on Locals.

St. Jerome by Caravaggio