Two Words That Made My Night

Before our children were born Debbie told me she wanted them to call her ema and me abba (Hebrew for mom and dad.) This suggestion was met with resistance. She told me she had always pictured her children using these names. I remember thinking to myself that I had always pictured my children calling me dad.

I had a conversation about this with Debbie's mom. She told me when her grandchildren started calling her "Savta" she was disappointed. It wasn't the name she always hoped to hear coming from the little mouths of her grandchildren. Then she thought about it and decided, "Who in Utah gets to be called Savta?" The truth is, there can't be that many Savtas around here. (She's full of wisdom like that.)

So I decided that Utah is full of dads and daddies, but there aren't very many abbas. The title suits me just fine now. In fact, when Debbie told me that Avi, a man of few words, looked around the house tonight and said, "Want Abba," it made my night.