Younger brothers and sisters seem to race through significant others faster than cell phone minutes, so I never bother learning their names until they've been around for at least three major holidays. Kodiak, my sister's current boyfriend, is an exception because I've already committed his name to memory and I only just met him at Christmas.
His real name is T.W., but we (Rain and I, that is) call him Kodiak. I think what makes him stand out is how he got his name from us.
I've know a few T.J.'s, two B.J.'s, three T.S.'s, a J.T., a J.R., a D.J., and even a C.W. from high school, but I've never even heard of a T.W. Neither have most people and it was hard trying to remember this especially after a hefty dose of eggnog. Christmas Eve consisted of quite a few mix-ups when relatives and I tried to address him. He was called by every one of the above initial names and just about every other combination of two letters you can make from our alphabet.
By Christmas morning, his name had morphed into three letters. DDT, IBM, AAA, NIN, etc. Somebody once even called him 4-H Club, but the name that stuck was ATV.
A day or two went by and ATV turned into brand names. All week he was either Kawasaki or Honda. He was Yamaha by New Year's Eve. And after the champagne cork broke the chandelier, Yamaha turned into Kodiak because Kodiak is the name of the big Yamaha ATV.
So TW is now Kodiak and whether he sticks around or not, we will remember him.
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