Why "Dottier?"

Most people who know me are aware that I have always hated my name, Dorothy. Seems my father felt my mother, also named Dorothy, deserved to be honored. About the only thing I ever disliked about my mother was that she allowed that decision to prevail. Wouldn't she, of all people, understand what a dumb name that was? She didn't quite get my dissatisfaction (other than she hated the nickname Dot). Its all about timing. In her day, Dorothy was like Jennifer was the year my first child was born. (Guess what her name is?)

Throughout childhood, I made a few futile stabs to adopt a nickname (Dory was my fave), but they never stuck. My sixth grade teacher began to call me Dort, which unfortunately did find a following; and in opinion, was a significant step backwards. When I got to high school and an ingenious classmate decided I should be "Deedee" (her other friend Dorothy's handle), I happily embraced the concept. My buddy Therese then changed her name to Tes and we were very pleased with our new identities.

So there I was... Deedee. Kind of unsophisticated, but such an improvement. A few decades later, when I started a new job, I dropped the dee and began to introduce myself as Dee to better express my ever evolving persona. Fast forward another 20 years or so, and now my last name was the issue. I had retained my married name, even though the marriage was short-lived. And since I was planning to make a cross country move; I decided that regardless of my distaste I might as well reclaim the name I came into the world with and use it for the duration. Hence, Dorothy.

Enter male companion. Who, frankly, influenced the decision to reclaim the name. And, who began to refer to me as Dot. Which, caused great delight for my daughters, who then started to call me Dot as well. As a joke... as it were. Short story getting much too long -- Dot stuck.

Which brings us to the original question, why Dottier for a blog name? Honestly? Because all the good ones were taken. I couldn't select "The Dotted Line," "On the Dot" or even "Dot your I's." Dotage was a thought, but the actual definition speaks of senility and frailty and I'm not quite there. So, while we're not the Dottiest, we're on our way.