poodle - an explanation

Everybody always wants to know why on earth I go by Poodle. Nobody in their right mind could actually like the name. And if my family really loved me, they'd understand that Poodle is just ridiculous and mean. But what they don't realize is that this is exactly why my family loves the nickname. In my family, we love to laugh at ourselves and each other. This is occasionally mistaken for cruelty, but it's not. If you can laugh about something, it can't be that bad.

So we laugh at each other. Like when we sent out a Christmas letter that included the lines:

"Bethany is finally getting married this year. We were beginning to wonder if this would ever happen for her."

and

"Michael spends quite a bit of time out of town, and sees the Continental ticket agents more than he sees his own children."

and

"Bexar's having a lot of fun not making friends this year."

and

"Poodle's not nearly as boring as she used to be."

and

"Baby decided she wasn't quite nerdy enough, so she joined the spelling and math clubs. It's okay to laugh at her - we do."

and

"Fernash decided that she was tired of wearing attractive clothes, so she became a missionary"

Mean? Possibly, if you're not a Reed. Funny? Absolutely.