Call Me Mee Maw

No fancy grandma names for me

The women I know who have become grandmothers have been very creative in naming themselves anything but Grandma. It’s not just the women, actually. The guys I know have their own version of something that is more youthful, less foot-in-the-grave, too.

So while I do love the Gigis, Nonnas, G-moms, GrandBobs, Guses, Poppies and PopPops I know, I’m going the other way: MeeMaw.

Not that I have anyone to call me any of these names. I’m nothing if not prepared, though.

My grandparents’ names were so formal: Grandmom Orfanelli, or Grandpop Morris. We might as well have called them Mr. and Mrs.

My parents took a baby step towards less formality: Grandmom/Grandpop <insert first name here>. Progress!

I don’t know what area of the country calls their grandmother Mee Maw. I have only heard it on TV: Raising Hope, where Mee Maw was Cloris Leachman’s character’s name, and Big Bang Theory, where Sheldon (and now Young Sheldon) refers to his grandmother as Mee Maw.

I crack up every time it’s uttered. I think that’s as good a reason as any to adopt it. If no one else finds it funny, at least I will be smiling every time someone calls my name.