Eyes, Names, & Memories

Emilio Villalba

A scent, a sound, something seen, said, or in this case read, that's all it takes to trigger a memory.

And that memory, for me, began with a piece written in Metropolitan Diary, a column in The New York Times.

Dear Diary:

I used to shop at the deli near my apartment almost daily to pick up a few things.

One day, I was short a couple of dollars and asked the cashier if I could make up the difference the next time I was there. She said that was fine.

I stopped in the next day.

"I owe you some money," I said.

She checked a note taped to the register with four or five amounts, with handwritten Korean-language characters next to each.

"$2.59," she said.

"That's correct," I said. "But you don't know my name. What is written there?"

"Big eyes," she said without looking up. "$2.59."

~ Noelle Nichols

Emilio Villalba

Big eyes, chuckle, chuckle.

My Dad, lovingly, called me "Big Eyes."

Not because of the size of my eyes, but more the size of my stomach. With eyes bigger than my stomach, I'd often dish more food onto my plate than my stomach could put away.

To that my mother would say, "She eats like a bird." But instead of nicknaming me Chickadee, Pigeon or Sparrow, she'd occasionally call me, "Miss Dolittle," as in... you do little to pull your own weight around here. Ouch!

In hindsight, I could have, should have, done more, but I wasn't a total slacker if that's what you're thinking. I worked part-time, after school, in the Woman's Department of Orbach's with a portion of my earnings kicked back to my Dad, as a thank you payment, for my room and board. Later, I learned that he saved every penny I gave him when he gifted it all back to me as I left for college for the very first time.

A sweet remembrance.

Not so sweet was being responsible for doing the family laundry... load, after load, after load, in a laundromat, alone.

And as far as helping out by preparing meals...

Well, I was banned from the kitchen after unknowingly blowing my mother's entire weekly food budget after cooking just one meal... Beef Bourguignon. I didn't even know she had a food budget, nor did I know how to cook.

I remember my mother's words, "I won't be home tomorrow night so you'll be cooking dinner." Gulp. The only thing I'd ever done on a stove was boil water, toast marshmallows, make chocolate pudding and attempt to fry frozen French fries, which almost burned the house down.

Yet somehow, I pulled it off: found that Beef Bourguignon recipe, shopped for the ingredients and voila, nailed it! My Dad said it was the best meal he'd ever eaten. When just earlier, he had offered to take my brother and me to McDonalds, when he found me crying while cooking.

The tears weren't from "being overwhelmed" and "in over my head" as he imagined, but by the onions I had been slicing.

Emilio Villalba

And so this is how the mind works... at least mine. One thing triggers another... from the story about Big eyes, to nicknames, to ending up in the kitchen with an onion.

But enough about cooking and more about names: the ones others give to us, and the ones we choose for ourselves.

I chose, at the age of 12, to change the spelling of my name from Diane to Dyan.

My 6th grade teacher never seemed to notice.

He did however notice the odd lettering in the school's hallway showcase, the one he asked me to design. I hadn't finished hanging all the letters but was in a rush to catch my bus home when he said, "You can't leave it like that!" pointing to the sign that read: "BUILDING UP WITH MA." Before I could leave, he insisted I add the last two letters, T & H. Yeah, it was a display about Math... sadly, a subject I still haven't grasped.

Well, it wasn't until my final days of High School when someone noticed the discrepancy in the spelling of my name and informed me that my birth name would have to be used for graduation. "No!" I said, standing my ground, while insisting that my name was legal through usage, something that I had previously researched.

Either the powers that be took my word for it, did the research on their own, or decided it wasn't worth the battle, because there on Graduation Day, I was handed my diploma and multiple awards, all hand-calligraphed with my first name spelled, "Dyan."

Emilio Villalba

Interestingly, actor Sigourney Weaver (Susan Alexandra Weaver) at the age of 14, changed her first name from Susan to Sigourney... a character from the Great Gatsby. She said the name change was an act of desperation because she didn't like being called Susie. Now she's called Siggy. And so it goes.

Singer Miley Ray Cyrus was named Destiny Hope Cyrus. As a baby, her family nicknamed her "Smiley" because of her cheerful disposition. She dropped the "S" and legally changed her name to Miley Ray Cyrus, keeping her family name and honoring her father, singer Billy Ray Cyrus.

Sting (Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner) was given that nickname by some of his band members because he often wore a black-and-yellow striped sweater resembling a bumblebee.

Lady Gaga (Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) was nicknamed Lady Gaga by her producer Rob Fusari because she reminded him of the Queen song "Radio Ga Ga." She added Lady because it seemed regal.

And Alicia Keys (Alicia Augello Cook) considered using "Wild" as a star name. Her mother thought Alicia Wild sounded like a stripper, so they agreed on Keys... as in piano. Alicia is a classically trained pianist.

Emilio Villalba

Okay, my eyes are now blurry. We've gone from "Big Eyes" to "Blurry Eyes" with everything in-between. As they say in the film industry... " It's a wrap!"

"The world only exists in your eyes.

You can make it as big or as small as you want."

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald 

If interested:

50 Celebrities: Their Real and Nicknames here.

Famous Companies And How They Got Their Names here.

10 Cities and Their Nicknames Here.

Nicknames of American Mobsters Here.

And From the Mob Museum, Generate Your Own Nickname Here.

Nicknames of 75 Sports Figures Here.

Girl With 1,000+ Letters In Her Name On Oprah Here.

Quick Look At Artist Emilio Villalba Painting An Eye Here.

Curious About How I Almost Burned Down The House Cooking French Fries? You Can Read or Reread that Previous Post Here.

Nomen est omen

Name is Destiny

Until Next We Meet

at

"Here and Next"

XOX... Dyan