By Any Other Name

I like nicknames and terms of endearment.  Seriously.  Everybody in my life gets them.  There are about two dozen different things I call my mother and she doesn't hesitate to answer to any one of them.  My siblings all have different versions of their names and then the nicknames get  further twisted and changed until it's something that doesn't even resemble the original but they all know.  A few of the ones I use irritate my siblings, but they put up with it because they know that's how I am, because they know that's how I'm showing affection.  And if I know it irritates, I try not to use it, so they forgive it when one of those slip out.   

I'm a sucker for baby.  I love it when lovers call each other that.  Or a parent to a child, or even friends.  And I use it with the people in my life that I'm the very closest to.  Sweetheart, honey, sugar, angel, darlin'...any one of them makes me sigh.  I know a lot of people roll their eyes when they read books in which the characters over use those types of terms of endearment, but I love it.  Because I'm like that and to me, it really shows deep affection.

But the name has to fit, it has to feel right.  There are people that shorten my name, call me Kris, and it just makes me wince.  I hate hearing it come out of their mouths.  There are about three people in my life that call me Kris on a regular basis that sounds just fine, it sounds right.  Everyone else?  An occasional use is fine for some of them, but mostly, it irritates the crap out of me.

So why do I use Kris as my moniker in the cyberworld?  Part of it was a conscious choice for anonymity.  Because I don't use it in everyday life.  Here, I am Kris, and I can be me without fear of discovery.  I don't have to hide.  And that is freeing