Mother Swan.

One of the sets of giant's shoulders I grew up riding as a kid belonged to a former Navy PO-1, a helmsman that had stood on the wheel one time for 72 long hours on an attack transport off of Okinawa dodging Kamikazes during WW2.

He was another one of the Old School tough guys that helped me grow up. He's the one that pulled a large splinter out of my ass that I got sliding down a tree. The old salt used a pair of rusty pliers on me.

He was really a character and gave freely of his time to the local Boy Scout troop of which I was a member of at the time.

We were on a weekend winter campout once and it looked like the temperature was going to drop to sub zero and the leaders suggested we simply pack it in and go home.

Needless to say, us scouts that dimly of the idea of packing it in and the men gave in and said we could stay...BUT.

The but was they would keep there eye on us and if things got too unbearable we'd head back home. They looked vary, very wary as they read the verdict. It was close to zero and it hadn't gotten very dark yet.

Most of us had pretty good sleeping bags and the small handful that had summer bags teamed up and put one inside the other and stuffed both of themselves into it. Shared body warmth would take them through the night unscathed.

A couple of the leaders made constant patrols that night checking up on us kids. Later they said they were amazed that we managed and that they were proud of us. Still, a couple of those Old School tough guys spent a long, sleepless night checking up on us.

Later during the following day behind our backs the tired leaders were teasing each other about the long, sleepless night they had been through. One of us scouts overheard one of the leaders teasing the other and said, "Mother Swan over there said..."

That was all it took. The nickname "Mother Swan" went through the troop like wildfire and that's what we referred to him as behind his back briefly until it came out into the open.

Mr Bob Swan, former Petty Officer First Class/ Chief designee, US Navy and Old School tough guy was addressed as 'Mother Swan' thereafter by any kid that had been on that campout. All others addressed him that way at their own peril.

He was proud of us kids and proud of the nickname we gave him. We were all part of a special fraternity that lasted until the day he died a few years ago. 

About fifty years after the fact I was driving past his house and he was sitting on his porch. I stopped, got out of his car and addressed him with, "Hey! Mother Swan!" and his face lit up like a Christmas tree.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY