What's in a name?

My parents named me Jennifer. I am the only kid in my family that got more than a one syllable name (interesting fact.) Funny thing is I don't get called by that name very often. When I was younger, most everyone called me Jenni; my family, the people at church, the kids I went to school with, almost everyone. Once I left home to go to college, I wanted to put my younger self behind me, so I started to call myself Jennifer. Nobody knew me as Jenni anymore. As I got to know people at college, I became Jenn. After college I found a job as an athletic trainer at a high school. Again I introduced myself as Jennifer, but before too long, everyone started calling me Jenn. So I'm back here in my hometown working in a high school, but instead of calling me Jenni, everyone now calls me Jenn. I never really sat down and thought about it until today, when one of the kids at school called me Jenni. I don't know why, but it seemed so strange for him to call me Jenni. It felt like he was calling me "sweetie" or "honey" instead of Jenni. I don't know, I guess it's sort of hard to explain. It's been so long since I've been called Jenni and the people that called me that were the people that knew me better than anyone else. So now when someone calls me Jenni, it's like an endearing little nickname, almost too familiar for just anyone to call me. I suppose that's why it seemed so strange when this kid at school called me that. It must have shown on my face because he looked at me and said, "is that all right, if I call you Jenni or do you prefer Jenn?" So as I've been sitting here thinking about it, I've decided that yes, I like being called Jenni. Maybe it's because now that I'm actually getting older I want to feel younger:0), or maybe it's just because it makes me feel more loved. As a last little sidenote some people do call me Jennifer, funny that those people happen to be my very best friends!