Keeping up with his martial arts training, the boy graduated to his next belt level tonight. He’s now a full red belt, as opposed to a striped red. He did well, showing off some of his sparring skills and demonstrating the new form he learned.
But the highlight of the night came at the end of the graduation when he was awarded his new belt. The head instructor asked him if he knew what his last name meant in English. The boy nodded and said “The mountain.”
The instructor smiled and then said “Yes, you and your father. I think I’m going to start calling you ‘M&M’. You know what that stands for?”
The boy shook his head. None of use knew.
“It’s short for ‘Mini Mountain’.”
The boy got a big grin on his face and their was a good laugh all around.
I think it’s going to stick- a couple of the higher ranking kids told him afterwards they would start referring to him as “Mr. M&M” in class. The boy, to his credit, took it all without much fuss.
Now that he’s home, he’s not to keen on it. But I explained to him, that’s the thing about nicknames. The person in question doesn’t get any say in their selection.