My friends call me...

When I was a kid I always wanted to have a name that just my friends called me. You know, "Hi, my name is Kaylene, but my friends call me Kay." I remember being a small child and trying to get people to call me Kay, it never caught on. I spent most of my youth without a special nickname. My Dad has always called me Kayleners but for some reason I never really felt that counted as an "official" nickname.
Over the last 8 years since coming to Provo I have started to collect nicknames, all of which I love deeply. I love them each for different reasons, probably I just love them because of the people I associate them with. Some of my favorite things I have ever been called are:

• Special K- started by Bobby "Krusty" Gilliam
• "Lady" - a name used solely by Damon Schmidt
• Lenes, Leney, Beans, Beanie- I think this all originated somewhere with Kim, but has become my most popular set of nicknames. Over the years I have been able to say "Hi my name is Kaylene, but my friends call me Leney" and it will stick. Beans and Beany are almost exclusively used by the Choplettes, though Tom does call me Beans. Oh and Erin calls me beanie-butt

Now on to the real point of this blog, I have recently acquired a new nickname, and you might have to use your imagination with this one: Kayeldean! ok when you say it you have to use a nasty southern drawl, holding out the "kayel" part and then ending with a nice solid "dean".
Very few things bring me as much joy as hearing Courtney or Megan say my name in this fashion. I can't help but laugh every time. I especially love it when I get off of work and have 4 voicemails and they are all of someone yelling Kayeldean into the phone and then promptly hanging up.
Thank you, Megan and Courtney for bringing this joy to my life.