Boogs Bear

                                                             Boogs Bear






     When the boys were still babies and for no reason other than it was a cute idea, Linda and I gave the boys nicknames and rather than call them by their given name we called them by the special moniker we bestowed on them. Never once did we imagine the names would stick and long term repercussions were never a consideration.
      Being the first born, Danny was given what I thought was a classy name mostly because I was the one who decided what to call him, although Danny was and is a perfectly good name for a boy I felt he needed something more fitting of his nature. Linda was concerned that I would call him by the traditional southern name of " Bubba ", now as far as I know there has never been a Bubba in the family and I honestly hope there never will be. After thinking long and hard and watching his demeanor for signs of greatness I started calling him "Hotshot", this was a name that fit, it was a name that would follow him into manhood and beyond but more importantly it was agreeable to Linda, there fore he has since been known to family and a few friends as Hotshot. This many years later I will occasionally blurt out "Hotshot" without thinking while talking to him but I don't think he minds.
     When Clay came along I quickly realized that he stole Linda's heart in many ways,mostly because he was her baby - the youngest and last of her brood. While we both had always promised to never show favoritism it was hard for Linda not to as mothers and the baby of the family have a special bond and Clay was the baby.
     Linda had a habit of singing, for her it was a means of coping with life, she sang when she was happy and she sang when she was sad. She sang quite often and she knew the words to hundreds of songs which she sang beautifully but every now and then she would make up her own words. It was while she was making up words one day that she settled on a nickname for Clay and from then on he was referred to as her "Boogs Bear". I never did know what a Boogs Bear was and have doubts that she did but Boogs Bear stuck.
     Clay never seemed to mind his nickname and it was not long before every one knew of it and the women especially would pick him up, pinch his cheeks and call him Boogs Bear. One day while watching the two boys I screwed up and called Clay - Hotshot - which of course was Danny's nickname, Clay quickly corrected me saying " I'm not Hotshot Dad, Danny is Hotshot, I'm Boogs Bear ". Clay's nickname was not one that followed him around all that long, I mean what self respecting young boy wanted to be called Boogs Bear once he started school. It wasn't long before only Linda and Eileen would call him by his nickname.
     As I said earlier Clay always held a special place in Linda's heart and during her final days she talked about her concerns for him and how she wished for him to be happy and have someone to love. Knowing that Clay and Maggie were together as a couple and would some day marry I assured her that she need not worry about Clay, he would be alright.
     Last Saturday - October 1, 2016 - I along with family and friends watched with pride as Clay and Maggie held hands and repeated the words of their wedding vows to one another. It was a beautiful wedding that was held at a cabin in the Blue Ridge mountains of Georgia, everything went off without too much of a hitch.
     As I watched them, a lifetime of memories flooded my heart, as I slowly wiped away tears that crept down my cheeks I could see Clay as Linda held him in her arms and smiled as she called him her Boogs Bear. I was sad but happy at the same time.
     I remarried a few months ago, Kay is a wonderful woman and we are a good fit. One of the areas we have yet to come together on is religion, I never was much for religion and have doubts about what or who to believe in. Kay on the other hand is a professed born again Baptist. We have had a few discussions about the subject and I understand that she tells people I am her work in progress, who knows one day she may bring me into the fold - she does say that God works in strange ways.
     One thing that I like to think may be true is that Linda, like Kay's husband Wayne, is in a better place and is watching over us. I like to believe that Linda was there watching as her Boogs Bear got married, I know she would be smiling and happy for him.