MaMa
Around 18 yrs. ago, when we were at our first church, my daughter started a babysitting job. We met the baby, his name was Jackson. I’m not sure how old he was when he became part of our lives. I think he was 6 weeks old. It was my daughter’s babysitting job but we all watched him.
We watched him every week but not on the weekends. We didn’t normally watch him on the holidays,
either.
Both my daughters called me mom. Jackson from six weeks old heard my girls
call me mom.
Every day he heard them call me mom, so he called me
mom. I explained to Jackson, do not call
me mom, because I’m not your mom. So then,
Jackson didn’t know what to call me. I
didn’t want him to call me Susan, because I wanted for him to learn
respect. I didn’t want him to call me Mrs.
Nikitenko because, it was too formal for seeing him every single day, except weekends. I told him to call me Mama Sue, Sue, because,
I was a mom to my daughters who were watching him. I chose Sue, sue because my cousins called my
mom, Aunt Sue, Sue. I chose the name “Mama
Sue Sue, because I was a mother figure there and I was teaching him respect.
Now…I never heard that before anywhere else, I pretty
much just made it up. I just came up with the name: Mama Sue Sue.
Somebody made a big deal about Jackson calling me Mama Sue Sue. I really didn't hear anything about it until we weren't there anymore. Like it was bad for me to teach him to call me, MaMa Sue Sue. As a matter a fact all of a sudden there was Mama Krysta and Mama Everyone. So, a new thing was started.
An interesting thing, in the Philippines of all
places. When my sister Teresa had some work
to do in the Philippines. She was
teaching a class full of Filipinos. They
became very close and they showed her a lot of respect and love. She said they were very protective of
her. They kept on calling her an
interesting thing.
They called her Mama Teresa.
My mother and I were on the phone and my mother started
telling me how she and dad, chose very unusual names for each one of us
children. At that time, in 1956 - the 1960s, the
names she chose were rarely heard, or not at all. During the conversation, that we had, I said
something about Mother Teresa. My sister immediately, got on the phone because she wanted to share with me a story about her
trip to the Philippines.
Her students continued to address her as Mama Teresa, Mama Teresa
this, and Mama Teresa that. She told
them, please do not call me mama. I am
not your mom. Then someone explained
that calling her Mama Teresa was a way to show her respect. She said she loved them for their sweet
spirits. She will never forget the great
respect and honor they displayed to her while she was teaching in the Philippines.
I wonder if this is the rest of the story.
Susan Y Nikitenko
