embarrassing my mom

mom: so i was reading your blog the other day and i read the story about willis's letter to the new president of grinnell, and i said to john, "is willis really [willis's real name]?"
me: wait, mom, are you kidding me?
mom: no!  i thought that this was a new work friend who i hadn't met before, but then he described himself in the email and i was like, this sounds like [willis's real name].  why don't you call him [willis's real name]?
me: sometimes i tell stories about him that might be embarrassing, so i've given him a pseudonym.
mom: does anybody else have one?
me: no, not so far.

note: mom and dad are pretty much BFF with willis.  they've known him since i was in college with him.  they met him at a duke football game (so this must have been the fall of my senior year), and i have this really vivid memory of the moment they met.  willis walked up and i got ready to introduce them and my dad stood up all weirdly, but i didn't think much of it.  after willis walked away dad confessed that he thought willis was a security guard who was going to yell at him for sitting in the wrong seat.

hehe.

physically, willis looks like he could beat you up in a back alley.  nothing could be further from the truth.  willis loves words, like me.  and if you met willis in a back alley, he would not beat you up.  unless crushing you with a hug counts.

in other news, i am about to embark on a four day beach vacation with willis, dudley [pseudonym alert!],  and irving [pseudonym alert!].  yes, readers, claire and the gay boys (it's like a band.  i will play the tambourine.  no, no - the recorder.) are going on vacation together.  i anticipate the boys doing embarrassing things, and i want to be able to blog about it, so i'm preemptively giving pseudonyms.  theme: old people names.