I have had some family challenges and changes in the last few months, good and bad...

But one thing keeps popping up to buck up our spirits, make us feel loved, send love..

Something my Dad started when my kids were young and that we continued..Shorty (24) just left the message on his 93 year old Grand Mother's voice mail for her birthday.

I am about to embroider it on a quilt, in anticipation of future generation not yet formed. (I am a planner!)

My Dad would ask.."Do you know how much I love you? A Billion Skillion!!"

We did it with our kids..it was a race..."Do you know how much I love you?"...Sometimes they beat us to it.

It is now some of our passwords and email addresses, if we just want to say we love someone... We say Billion Skillion.

If I ever had a boat, it would be named "Billion Skillion".

Do you have a secret family code to share your love?

My older son and I sign messages this way:

Love
JBP

Mom (or son's name)

This originated from when he was very young and we had the following conversation:

After my "I love you", he asked quizzically but with deliberate whimsy:

"Do you REALLy love me, Mom?"
To which I responded, "Naw, I'm just being polite."

Ever since, we have added that disclaimer in avowals of love, abbreviated "J.B.P."

His own little brother didn't even know what it meant until fairly recently. (He and I have other affectionate expressions recalling exchanges from his childhood, but none as code-like.)

I love both of these stories!

The closest thing I can think of in the Chez Nina household are substitutions of funny mispronunciations (usually from our kids) that became the standard for how we pronounce those words within the family.