"IjuswuhVootu"

"IjuswuhVootu?"  No, this is not a test to see if you can copy the letters correctly.  Actually, as a little child growing up in California, I would hear my parents utter this strange word and never knew what they were saying.  At one time I decided they were probably immigrants from some foreign country that spoke such a strange, exotic language.  Truly it must have been a joyful word because every time it was spoken it brought smiles and happy faces to my parents, sometimes even followed by touching hands or a kiss on the cheek.

Finally, one Saturday morning sitting at the breakfast table having father's best waffles with lots of butter and Maple syrup, Clarence smiled at Viola and those two 'foreigners' spoke in their special language: "IwuhVoo," said my father to my mother.  Her answer:  "IwuhVootu," and there followed mutual grins and as I sat with my mouth open in awe, they merely took another bite.

Now at the age of ten, my curiosity finally got the best of me.  "Mother, what did you say to Clarence?"  I should explain here and now that I was allowed to call my father 'Clarence' from my earliest memory because they "thought it was so cute."  Probably one of the rare moments of cuteness that I expressed.  And, the lovely lady who birthed me demanded she be called 'Mother,' not Mommy or Mom.  So, as I was saying, Mother answered me:  "Your father said he loves me and I answered I love you too."  That was not the answer I wanted.  I repeated what they had actually said.  Both Mother and Clarence laughed, in fact he was just taking another swig of hot coffee and almost choked  laughing.

This was to be my first lesson in true love between parents.  Mother explained:  "When your father and I first fell in love we used to talk, I suppose you would call it 'baby-talk' and these were the words we coined to let each other know how much we were in love.  I guess we're a bit old to continue saying this, but you can count on hearing this 'strange language' from us for years to come.  You see, we'll always love each other,

Maybe that was more than I needed to know as a kid.  But, it has been a lovely memory for me to carry through the years.  They did divorce after 26 years of marriage, but it was a mutual agreement. I'll probably explain that decision in another blog, another day.