I’ve been trying out nicknames for Elster: El, Elsie, Ellie, Els, Elsa, trying to find one that feels right to say and that she seems to like. She seems a bit confused by it, doesn’t seem to quite get why, but also doesn’t tell me to stop. Today I told told her that nicknames are a way of showing affection, and, we’re getting to be friends, now, right? But, she didn’t even know what a friend was! That took a good amount of explaining, but it was so worth it, because when she finally got it, she smiled!

I’ve never seen her smile before!

I wonder if I can get her to stop habitually referring to me as ‘Officer Yeong?’ We’re friends now, after all, not crew members.

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Cycle 790

Elster called me ‘Riri’ completely out of nowhere today. I wasn’t prepared for it, I was in the middle of changing a lightbulb and the shock nearly made me fall off my step ladder! Poor Elster seemed so distraught, but I reassured her again and again that everything was okay, and I encouraged her to keep trying just like I was.

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Cycle 791

I’m ‘Ari,’ she’s ‘Ellie’.

BFFs for life 🙂