In my lifetime, I have had several nicknames. Thankfully one from my childhood I have out grown and others still make me smile.

By my immediately family, I was called Sissy as a child. I think it was an old southern thing, my maternal grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Wright, was know as “Sister” by her family until she died and our name for her was “Grandma Sissy.” Although occasionally through the years my mother would still call me Sis or Sissy, this is the name that I am thankful I outgrew.

The other name was given me by my grandfather, Wallace Van Houten. He called me “Patty-Watty.” He called me that until the day he died and I cherished it. He was the only person that called me “Patty-Watty” and it was a special name that denoted the affection he had for me. 

I still have little scrapes of paper and envelopes where he wrote notes later in life for the things he wanted to give me, they read “for Patty-Watty.” One such envelope is in a drawer with miscellaneous jewelry. I see it most every day and it always makes me smile.

I also inherited many photo albums that belonged to my grandfather and in each one with my picture, young or old it’s labeled “Patty-Watty.”

My grandfather took many videos of us as children. In his retirement years he spent hours playing them from old big reels onto VHS tapes. He narrates throughout and identifies people in the videos. It makes me smile when I hear him say, “Look who that is there, it’s Patty-Watty. She’s the sweetest little girl.”