Disclaimer: I am not finished with this post. However, I am posting it so I am not in trouble with Psycho! Once I have completed it. Then I will remove the disclaimer.
As I have mentioned a few times, I am the oldest child of five. I have three younger sisters and one brother.
All of our names starts with the letter T - Tiffany, Tenia, Tierra, Terrance, and Tiauna. I asked my mom about our name selection years ago. Was it intentional since neither my mother or father's names start with T? My mom met a pair of twins when she was about 7 months pregnant. Their names were Tiffany and Taffany. For some reason there names stayed with her and she named me Tiffany. I definitely preferred that name over Taffany! With my sister, she did not have a name selected. The day my sister was born, some woman named Tonia inherited a fortune. Not really sure why that made the front page news. My mother liked the name but changed the "o" to an "e" for Tenia (pronounced Ta-nee-a). For my second sister, Tierra. My aunt wanted my mom to name her Ciara. But since she was now officially on the T trip, Ciara became Tierra.
It was the 3 of us for eight years. To this day I don't know what my momma and daddy was thinking, but as an eighth grader, they tell me they were having another child. I was not too excited to say the least. I just saw my teenage years gone with babysitting a little kid. In my mind, Tenia and Tierra were not little anymore. They were 10 and 8 respectively. To pacify me, my mom said I could name the next baby. There were 2 requirements. The name starts with a T and since it was a boy, the middle name was either Monte or DeCarlos in honor of my uncle. I gave her Terrance De Carlos or Terrell Monte'. She chose Terrance. A year and a half later, they were pregnant with another one. Again, I was able to help with the name selection. I gave her Tatiana. She said that was too long. Then I gave her Tia. She said that was too short. She finally came up with Tiauna.
Because all our names begin with T, people became confused on who was who. So a few years ago, I gave us all nicknames that describes us. I am telling you now they are not politically correct. I do not do politically correct. Sorry...well no I am not! HA! Tenia (the one right under me) is Psycho. Tierra (the next one) is Fat Girl. Terrance is just Terrance. He is the only boy; therefore, it is not hard to figure him out. And the baby girl, Tiauna, is Psycho Jr. Now don't leave me any comments about their names. They have embraced their names because it is who they are. If they change, then I will change their names! By the way, I am Big Girl. Compared to the 2 Psychos and Terry, I am big.
Tenia - This the sister who probably looks the most like me but tries the hardest to be my complete opposite.
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| Tenia and Tiffany |
Growing up, I was prided myself on doing the right thing. Tenia on the other hand prided herself on doing whatever she felt like doing at that time! She spoke her mind whenever she wanted. Most people think I am outspoken. I don't have anything on her!
One of my earliest memories of Tenia in action is when she was about 3 or 4. My aunt owned a corner grocery store and lived in the apartment over it. My cousin and I worked in the store while the birthday party was happening upstairs. My mother thought Tenia was with us. When we couldn't find her, we started looking for her frantically. After what seemed like forever, we found her under the pool table with a plate of chicken, a plate of chicken bones, and several empty wine glasses. The little girl was feeling good!
A few years later, she had the same 3rd grade teacher I had when I was in 3rd grade. The teacher told my mom, she dealt with me being talkative because I always did her work. BUT Tenia was a different story. She talked all the time and refused to do her school work. I remember asking her about it too. Her response, "I am not you! I don't have to do what you do!" And that has been her motto for the majority of her life.
As adults, we have grown closer. For that I am grateful! I love that I can spend time with her having real talks. We talk about almost everything...kids, relationships, school, work, parenting, and us as adults. Even though I don't tell her often, I love and admire for being able to keep her family of 7 together for all these years.
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