Meixes

Sofia has been having a bit of an issue lately with ingesting her ... well, her boogies. I'm sure it's a phase most kids go through, especially in the winter, but the other day when I saw Sofia digging for nasal gold, I was reminded of Pegs' least favorite word: meixes (pron: meek-ses), which is the Greek word for snot, boogers or anything else you might call the stuff that comes out of your nose. I don't know why she had such an aversion to that word in particular; English terms for the same stuff didn't seem to phase her, and I personally saw her wipe Sofia's nose on multiple occasions without being the slightest bit squeamish. But if you said "meixes" around her, she would usually close her eyes and shudder involuntarily a bit before she punched you in the arm. Hard. Go figure.

Movie Snacks

I took Sofia to a movie this weekend, and since it was a late afternoon show I got some snacks so Sofia wouldn't get too hungry before dinner. We were at the concession stand, waiting to place our order, and while looking at the various candies behind the counter I was reminded that Panagiota used to enjoy Swedish Fish. She didn't always get them when we went to the movies; most of the time she wouldn't get anything, and on occasion she would get something else entirely. I always thought it was interesting when she chose Swedish Fish, however, since I don't know of anyone else who actually enjoys them. For some reason, Pegs really used to like them, though. Now that I think about it, maybe it was because she knew that I wouldn't ask her to share them with me. If so, well played, Pegs; well played....

The Other Side of the Bed

Paris; 6 July 2005

Sofia came in my room this morning to snuggle a bit before we went for bagels, a Sunday tradition that dates back to our time in Paris when she and I would go for pastries so Pegs could sleep in a bit. I sleep on the left side of the bed, and at one point Sofia crawled all the way to the right-hand side and said, "Daddy, this is Mama's side." It was indeed, but not because Pegs always slept on the right-hand side of the bed. Wherever we went, Pegs always wanted to sleep on the side of the bed that was closest to the bedroom door. When we first moved to Paris, she slept on the left side of the bed; when we changed bedrooms so that Sofia could have her own room, she switched to the right side. In Moorestown the right side of our bed is closest to the door, so she stayed on the right. I think her preference stemmed from a number of sources: at first, it was to be closer to the bathroom, since she often got up in the night. Then, after Sofia was born, she wanted to be close to the bedroom door so she could hear Sofia more easily and respond faster. Finally, I think she found that sleeping on the side closest to the door made it easier to get in and out of bed, and as I've mentioned before, Pegs was nothing if not efficient. Hotels on trips away from Sofia could be a tricky issue, as you might imagine, since the bathroom and bedroom door could be in opposite directions. This could cause a momentary existential dilemma on her part that was entertaining to watch.  Our bedroom door is on the right-hand side, while our bathroom door is to the left. I wondered when we moved in whether Panagiota would hesitate on choosing the right or left side of the bed, but she quickly settled on the right to be closer to Sofia. Offspring apparently trump bladders.

Ketchup Chips

I picked up a sandwich and a bag of chips in the cafeteria today, and as I was walking out I started talking to a colleague whose husband is Canadian. The conversation turned to the chips I had just purchased (Cool Ranch Doritos), and my colleague mentioned that her husband (who, keep in mind, is Canadian) likes really weird snacks from his childhood like ketchup flavored potato chips. This, of course, reminded me of Pegs, who on more than one occasion demonstrated her love of ketchup flavored chips by wolfing down an entire bag. Pegs wasn't big on processed food as a rule, but one of the things we liked to do when traveling to a foreign country was to visit a convenience store or grocery store and check out the chips section. It always amazed us to discover the flavors that appealed to the local palates, both by home-grown companies and multinationals like Frito Lay. Examples include the ever-popular roasted chicken and thyme flavored chips in France, paprika flavored chips in the Czech Republic and lime-soaked chips in Costa Rica.

Panagiota Preferences: Family

One thing that always amazed me about Pegs was how easily she got along with my entire family. She wasn't the most outgoing person by nature; she was retiring and tended not to dominate the conversation. In my family, whether on my father's (American) or my mother's (French) side, discussions tend to be loud and animated. The decibel level reaches dangerous proportions whenever more than five of us get together, and if it's a family reunion, you pretty much need to wear ear plugs to keep your eardrums from bleeding. I was genuinely afraid that Pegs would get intimidated or lost in the shuffle, especially when interacting with the French side because of the language barrier. But if there was one thing that outweighed her naturally quiet nature, it was her love of family. She may not have been the loudest person in the room, but her quick responses and witty insights often provoked the loudest laughs. For a family that prides itself on one-upsmanship, she more than held her own.

Panagiota was especially close to my French grandparents, whom she got to know very well while we lived in France. In fact, it was Panagiota who would often suggest going to visit them on the weekends; I don't know of very many 30-somethings who would push their spouses to spend half of their weekend going to visit their in-laws. I'd like to think that says a lot about my family, but I think it says even more about Panagiota.

New Orleans, Thanksgiving 2006

Bondues, Christmas 2008

Las Vegas, 2010

Something you may not know...: Alias edition

If you've already read some of the other posts on this site, you may be wondering why I sometimes refer to Panagiota as "Pegs". To be fair, others might be wondering why I sometimes refer to Pegs as "Panagiota". It's a convoluted story, but an amusing one, and hopefully this post will help clear up any confusion going forward.

Panagiota had many nicknames, mostly because she found it too cumbersome to repeat herself ten times when people had trouble pronouncing her real name. "Panagiota" is actually a fairly common Greek name; while it doesn't translate directly into any English names, it stems from the Greek word for the Madonna (think Virgin Mary, not Material Girl). 

Montreal, circa 1980

When Panagiota was younger, she was ... rounder than she was as an adult (see at left). Greeks like their children  full-figured, and Panagiota didn't disappoint. Her mother likes to brag that the only thing Pegs didn't eat as a child was lentils, although she must have overcome that aversion pretty early because Pegs could make a mean batch of lentil soup in adulthood. Because of her "cherubic" physique, her parents often referred to her as "Fratzola," which is the Greek word for a round loaf of bread.

When Panagiota moved to the US from Canada, she faced the difficult task of trying to explain her name to Southerners, for whom the word "phone" has at least three syllables. Panagiota has a slightly older cousin with the same name who always went by "Peggy," so she decided it would be easier to switch to "Peggy" as well. 

The hilarious thing about this plan is that Panagiota admittedly hated being called "Peggy". It's still mind-boggling to me why she would choose a nickname that she disliked, but I guess she disliked correcting people about her name even more. To make things more complicated, Panagiota's parents, like many Greeks, are incapable of pronouncing the hard "g" in "Peggy," so they always referred to her as "Pecky". Most of the time they would also slap the word "mou" at the end, which in Greek is the first person possessive, so "Pecky-mou" literally translates to "my Pecky." Confused yet?

When I first met her, she introduced herself as "Peggy", explaining that it was short for her Greek name. At the time she was spelling her name with a "y," as in "Panayiota," since she seemed to think that it would be easier for people to read or pronounce correctly. (If you're following this logic, then put down the hash pipe before you keep reading.) After we became good friends, she confided to me that she hated her nickname, so I suggested that she shorten it to "Pegs," which she seemed to tolerate much easier. Of course, I also referred to her as "Pecky-mou" from time to time, because it was just too cute not to.

After I met Pegs' sister Niki, I realized that Panagiota also responded to "Yoda". I initially assumed that this was in reference to her mastery of the kind of Jedi mind tricks she would use on me to allow her sole possession of the remote control while we would watch TV, but apparently it was just short for "Panagiota."

When we moved to France, Pegs started using her full name more frequently and officially dropped the "y" nonsense. Panagiota asked that my French family refer to her as "Pegs," since that's how I typically referred to her in conversation. The problem is that there is no nickname "Pegs" in French, but there is the nickname "Peg." So, as was her fate, Panagiota had yet another nickname, as half of my family affectionately referred to her as "Peg."

I'm sure that there are other nicknames I'm leaving out (for example, my French uncle often liked to refer to us collectively as "Pee and Leg"), but I think Panagiota, Fratzola, Peggy, Pecky, Pecky-mou, Pegs, Panayiota, Yoda and Peg are enough for one post, don't you?

Did you have any interesting nicknames for Panagiota, or perhaps a story about her name(s) you'd like to share with us? Write a post, add a comment or send us an e-mail!

Panagiota Preferences: Posteriors

Tuscany, May 2006

At the risk of focusing too much on behinds, I thought I should add a little anecdote following Derek's funny story below. If there was one thing about her body that Panagiota could have changed, other than her toes, it probably would have been her derriere. It's not like she obsessed over her bottom, but she definitely felt that it didn't measure up to her self-imposed standards. To be honest, I'm not really sure why that was the case; she wasn't going to get ogled by Ice-T, to be sure, but I don't think he was her target demographic. As an illustration, here is a snippet of a conversation that Pegs and I had back in 2007:

Pegs: My butt is too flat.
Me: What are you talking about? You have a nice little butt!
Pegs (pouting): No, I don't. People like round butts. Not once in the history of the world has a guy looked at a flat ass and thought to himself, "Yeah, I'd like to tap that."

Do you have your own story about Panagiota that you'd like to share? Add a comment, write your own post or send us an e-mail!

Panagiota Preferences: Cleanliness Edition

Another segment we'll try to post regularly is something we're calling "Panagiota Preferences", which is intended to highlight one or two of Pegs' likes and dislikes, together with a little anecdote or example. We've already told you of Panagiota's affinity for maple syrup in all its many forms, so let's focus on something she didn't care for so much: dirt. Some of you are undoubtedly thinking, "Big deal, Lee; aside for that one hippie roommate I had in college, I don't know that many people in this world who actually enjoy dirt." Ah, but that just means you had no idea about how much or how thoroughly Panagiota would keep everything clean. I'm not going to draw any comparisons to Howard Hughes in the germophobe department (think more along the lines of Monica in the eighth season of Friends), but Pegs definitely had a need for order and hygiene. Many of you will remember taking your shoes off as soon as you entered our home to keep from tracking in dirt, or the readiness with which Pegs would offer hand sanitizer whenever she sat down to eat, or her platonic love affair with her Miele vacuum cleaner. Pegs was so concerned about keeping a clean house that within a day of being discharged from the hospital following 29 hours of labor (culminating in a C-section), she vacuumed and dusted our entire apartment in anticipation of people coming over to see Sofia. You may ask, "Why on earth would you let her do that all by herself, Lee?" The answer, of course, is simple: having seen how I used to "clean" my previous bachelor pad, Panagiota would have re-cleaned everything I tried to tidy up anyway. To this day I still don't understand why it's not acceptable to use toilet paper to clean the bathtub....

Got your own story about Panagiota or her cleaning habits that you'd like to share? Write a new post, add a comment or send us an e-mail!