Family Shorthand--“How r U?”

By Shelly Burke, Author of Home is Where the Mom Is; A Christian Mom’s Guide to Caring for Herself, Her Family, and Her Home

Code words, nicknames, shorthand phrases, inside jokes that make us laugh—every family has them.

Morgan and I have tease each other with “I love you!” “Love you more!” “No, I love YOU more” “No, really, I insist, I definitely love YOU more!” and so on. She goes to school about 25 miles from home, so every day I ask her to text me that she’s arrived safely (I’ve promised that I will not ask her to do that next year when she’s in college.)

So she doesn’t have to type quite so many letters, her text reads, “Here! Luv U!” and I in turn text her back “TX! LYM!” meaning “Thanks for understanding that I need to know you’re there, for my own peace of mind” and “Love you more!” It’s a small thing, but puts a smile on my face every day. I will miss getting her texts and talking with her every day next year…but I bet when we do talk and text we’ll still share our mother/daughter shorthand.

What code words, nicknames, shorthand phrases and inside jokes does your family have? Consider writing them down so you’ll remember them in years to come. When Cody and Morgan were little, I kept a calendar on which I wrote what we did every day. I included our private jokes and code words on that calendar, and it’s fun to look back on now and laugh about.

Hve a gd dy! Gd bless u & UR fmly 2day!

I’m also blogging at Nebraska Family Times

Today my post is titled “Lifting Up in Prayer” and reflects upon

my prayer list, which has been especially long this spring.