Amo, Amas, Amat

Remember your first Latin lessons? Amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant? That's when Latin was still fun. After that it just gets too hard.

Why is this on my mind today, and fun? Because I have a new name! I received it the way most grandmothers get named by their first grandchild. The parents try to train the newly talking child before the next grandma's visit with the name the grandma kind of thought she'd be called - in my case, the German version of grandma which is "Oma". The child looks up at the parents and creatively comes up with a new version for what forever since ancient times was "Oma" or "Grandma" for most.

Well, I am now "Amo", according to my son's recent email. My son who made "Momo" out of the very same word - "Oma" - when he was little, for my mother. Who knows how it works in those little brains.

"Amo" means "I love" in Latin and in Italian. My grandson, and - because of his genius and great leadership - all our future grandchildren, will all be declaring "I love" every time they see me, and I'll be thinking "Yes, I know you do".