Short for Tia. Which means aunt in Spanish. My sister, nephew, mother or I don't speak Spanish nor do we have any Latin in us but we thought it would be a good name for me and it's much easier for my one and a half year old nephew to say. He is my only nephew and he is my sister's son. His dad is not around so my mother and I help my sister rasie him. I was the second name for him to learn. Papa was first. He still doesn't know his own name, Travonn, but he knows the rest of us. He loves my car and he still struggles putting two words together but whenever I arrive he will excitedely shout Ti-ti cah! That means aunt Danielle's car. He loves going for rides in it and he surprisingly behaves his best when he is in the car. He's very passionate and you must have a lot of patience if you are going to watch him for more than an hour. Like his mother, he must get a lot of attention and believe me, he does. Travonn is in for a very rude awakening because his brother is going to be born in less than a month. I, on the other hand, cannot wait for my unborn nephew to arrive. I love being an aunt and I know that my sister will need more help than ever with her having her second child and her still being a single mother. My mother is her primary babysitter and with my mom working for the union now and going to work seven days a week, 12 hours a day, I will be seeing his curly headed, caramel face quite frequently. And that is okay with me.
I love that you start the piece with "Short for tia." It moves us right in; it's personal. Really great. And I LOVE that you explain that Papa was the first word he learned after you tell us his dad's not around. It's complicated and strangely moving. It's understated. :) And I really like the line afterward that reads "He still doesn't know his own name, Travonn, but he knows the rest of us." Really good stuff.
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