A.K.A. Boots

True to the promise from my last post's comments, here's the story about why my family does NOT call me Ginnie. And this photo from almost 61 years ago is living proof.

Held by my maternal grandmother in late summer, 1945.

Mom says my due date was July 7, 1945. Her doctor, however, was going to be on vacation then and told Mom he wanted to induce me beforehand. Mom had only 2 children at that point and had no clue back then that she should/could have objected. She just went along with the story.

Of course, I knew all along that I was a Gemini (NOT a Cancer), so as far as I was concerned, I was supposed to be born on June 13th. So I was. However, at 5.5 lbs. I was considered "premature" and had to be left in the hospital for 3 weeks before they'd let me go home. I laugh about that now because today a 5.5 lb. baby would hardly be considered a premie!

By the time I got home, which was Lynchburg, VA, it was already July and hot (the South!). But Mom says she couldn't keep my feet warm. Any booties she put on my feet were too big and kept falling off. She eventually took the socks from the last doll she had kept from age 12 and put them on me. They went all the way up to my hips but stayed on.

When a nurse friend came by to see me for the first time and saw me in the doll socks, she starting laughing and exclaimed, "Why, she's all boots!"

From that point on, my family called me Bootsie (or my preference, Boots). My teachers, classmates and church family all called me Virginia (and still do if ever I see them). But from college on, I had everyone new call me Ginnie.

To this day, if anyone in my family calls me Ginnie (like my sister Ruth in her comments), it feels totally weird. If Donica calls me Boots around my family, THAT feels weird. But if YOU called me Boots just for the halibut, I'd probably walk around with a big grin on my face!

Ahh. The stories we know and the stories we tell :)