brought to you by the letter L

the youth worker christmas party was a week and a half ago, and we went to a pottery place here in town where everyone got to paint either a mug or an ornament. i painted an ornament with red and lime green stripes, then painted the word 'noel' on it in black letters. you havent seen a picture, because its not that great. :-/
anyway, the other day allen picked them up from the shop and brought them to our house, and i had mine sitting on the kitchen counter when colby asked
colby: does that say noel?
allen: yes it does.
colby: what does that mean?
allen: it means mommy doesnt like the letter L. no L.
colby: what?! mommy, you dont like the letter L?
me: nope.
colby: why??
me: its worthless. i dont like it at all.
allen: mommys jealous because we all have L's in our name and she doesnt.
colby: really, mommy? is that why you dont like L?
me: (pretending to cry) its true. L doesnt like me. i just want an L like you guys have.
molly: (hugging me) mommy, please dont cry! i LOVE you!! its ok, mommy!
me: hey! i know! molly, you can give me one of your L's! you have two! can i have one of your L's and then we'll all have one?
molly: (long pause...thinking....)no, i dont think so. i like both of my L's. but daddy has two. maybe he'll give you one of his.

the conversation kind of died after that. she did tell my later that she'd trade me an L for my M, but that didnt seem like a very good deal to me, so we're all leaving our names as they are.