Sweet Allice Blue Gown is a nickname my Grandpa Averett gave me when I was little. I was an attention seeker and often felt out of place and was always looking to be included. It was easy for me to feel that way where I was displaced by my Dad's death when I was 2 years old.
I remember some frustrations I had with not having a nickname and was delighted to find out I'd had one from the time I was about 7 or 8 years old. My mom remarried when I was 6 almost 7 and I'll get into that a little later. My stepdad Steve has always been wonderful to Mom, my brother and I even though I can't say I returned the favor much. Again...more there later.
The Averett culture was different than I was accustomed to but I quickly learned to love the warm, loud and very inclusive group. I loved Grandpa Bud right off the bat when he rescued me from his large hound dogs who were snooping around the truck I was in the day we first met the family. He was boisterous and connected well with little kids. His jet black hair and bushy eyebrows accented a the sparkle in his always happy eyes and huge grin that sat in a round ruddy face. I didn't care that he was loud..he made it obvious that he liked me and quickly secured a spot in my heart. He became Grandpa #3 just less than a month before Grandpa Johnson lost his battle to diabetes. The timing was perfect. Time spent with Grandpa Averett was always fun and took away from the stress that I felt even as a little kid.
One thing I noticed was that he rarely called kids by their real names, especially the girls. Stacy was Christine, Callie was Mary Ann and Natalie was Dynamite. I didn't know I had my own special nickname until years later. I suppose he called me by it but I've always been a bit of a ditz and never picked up on it until one of my cousins pointed it out. I was Sweet Alice Blue Gown.
Once I learned it I embraced it. My first email address was sweetallice. I was called Allice by a group of guys from Delta my freshman year and now my brother Tim calls me Allice. I like the fun spunky sound of it that resonates with who I really am.
For the purpose of this blog I looked up Sweet Alice Blue and found some cool information. It is a song that was written back in 1919. Alice Blue was Teddy Roosevelt's feisty daughter who's signature color was of course blue. It is said she was the American equivalent to a princess. There is even a reference to the Navy which is bitter sweet to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_blue
I'm taking my nickname and running with it. I love how I can weave parts of who I've become and as I continue to find beauty in my past heartaches and discover who I really am.
Thanks for reading!
Sweet Allice :)
Alice Blue Gown
(Joseph McCarthy and Harry Tierney) Transcribed from vocals by Edith Day, recorded Feb. 2, 1920, (from the musical Irene)From The Broadway Musical, vol 1: 1918 - 1929, Chansons Actualites; CIN025.
I once had a gown, it was almost new,
Oh, the daintiest thing, it was sweet Alice blue,
With little forget-me-nots placed here and there,
When I had it on, oh, I walked on the air!
And it wore, and it wore, and it wore,
'Til it went, and it wasn't no more.
In my sweet little Alice blue gown,
When I first wandered down into town,
I was so proud inside,
As I felt every eye,
And in every shop window I primped, passing by.
A new manner of fashion I'd found,
And the world seemed to smile all around.
'Til it wilted, I wore it,
I'll always adore it,
My sweet little Alice blue gown!
The little silk worms that made silk for that gown,
Just made that much silk and then crawled in the ground,
'Cause there never was anything like it before,
And I don't care to hope there will be any more!
And it's gone, 'cause it just had to be,
Still it wears in my memory.
In my sweet little Alice blue gown,
When I first wandered down into town,
I was so proud inside,
As I felt every eye,
And in every shop window I primped, passing by.
A new manner of fashion I'd found,
And the world seemed to smile all around.
So it wouldn't be proper
If made of silk were another,
My sweet little Alice blue gown!
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