terms of endearment

I remember this one time when I was talking to the second ex-boyfriend, M, on the phone, when my dad overheard me calling him "baby".

My dad said in his loud voice, "Parang narinig ko na yun! Di ba recycle na yan? (It seems I heard that before! Isn't that recycled already?)"

M heard my dad and asked why he said those words. I was soooooo embarrassed. My cheeks turned furiously red and warm as I admitted that I called my first ex-boyfriend, T, "baby", too.

He laughed after I explained. It was good that he was a sport about it. But I learned my lesson then. I vowed that I wouldn't call the third boyfriend (when the time comes) "baby" anymore.

Now, the whole memory is darn funny.

It turns out, I never called the third ex-boyfriend anything except his name. Sometimes I'd call him "sweetie", but he never really was the sweetie. After all, I called most of my cousins and girlfriends "sweetie". But he did text me once as "mahal (love)".

I had a semi-relationship with someone whom I referred to as "honey" but now, it's just Geo, my closest guy friend, and a handful of girlfriends.

"Dears" are harder for me to pronounce. It means you're a really, extremely, close friend. So far, there are only two people I really call "dear", Neva and Cookie.

Terms of endearment, I think, expresses how special a person is to another. They don't necessarily equate to the significant other. My sweeties, honeys, and dears are very close to my heart. I may use these endearments frequently, but it doesn't lose its value nor does its meaning deteriorate.

Hope you all know that when I call you that, you're special to me. :)