what the heck is etley!?

meet my brother:

he came into the world back in 1985. the first born. the first son. it was a glorious moment in my parents’ lives for sure.

meet my parents, circa 1980 something:

my dad had has a hard time remembering names. so, he endearingly called my brother not by his given name, but rather, MUNCHMAN.

for two years, my brother was known as MUNCHMAN.

then, in 1987, i showed up. my dad couldn’t call me by my given name, no surry-bob, he had to give me a nickname.

to keep with the trend, i would be called MUNCHETTE.

this also became hard for my dad to remember, so he shortened it to ETLEY.

as i grew up, i literally NEVER heard my dad call me by my given name. he has ALWAYS called me etley.

so it stuck. i love it. when i was thinking of a blog name, etley popped into my head.

my dad has always said etley, but when he signs my cards, he spells it different every time. i called him the night i made my blog,

“hey dad! question – how do you spell etley?”

“ummmm I-T-L-Y.”

“uhhhh dad, i don’t think that’s how you spell ETLEY . . . are you sure?”

“nope.”

okay – so to recap:

my dad doesn’t call me by my first name.

he calls his children “munches” which sounds like a delicious snack.

& he doesn’t even know how to spell my nickname.

but i’m okay with that. i love being etley or i-t-l-y. forevaaa.