By MOLLIE BROWN / Community Columnist

Shakespeare wrote, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

What matters is what something is, not what it’s called. I talked with students at Calera Elementary School’s Grandparents Day to find out if the variety of names used for grandparents all mean the same.

It’s been many years since Jackie Smith was a parent volunteer when her granddaughter, Racheal Damato Smith, attended CES. Now, Racheal’s daughter Giannah is a second grader.

“Gee Gee means the whole earth to me,” Giannah said. “I like playing with her dog, Bailey, but most of all I like playing robot. At night she hides and tries to catch us humans.”

Joshua Rhoads swims at Paw Paw Bill Rhoads’s house and they go fishing. John (Poppy) and Brenda (Nana) Hughes traveled from Mississippi to have lunch with their granddaughter Emily Nance. Emily likes Nana visiting because “she bakes biscuits every morning and I eat them with syrup and butter.”

Devon Miller goes bowling with his Mimi (Linda Fuller) and her best dish is “basketti.” Zachary Sharpton said he and Paw Paw Don Sharpton do guy things.

“Girls like to shop, boys don’t. We’re not like ‘I want that, I want that, I want this,’” Zachary said.

Aubrey Stewart spends every Tuesday night with Granna Marion Lynn Stewart. “We cook Double Delicious Halloween Bars and I get to sleep with her,” Aubrey said.

Principal Celita Deem said Grandparents’ Day was a huge success.

“ What an inspiration to see these families come, some from as far away as Tennessee, to share in what to them is far more than just the daily lives of their grandkids. Our parents give us unconditional love and nurturing, but we also benefit from the wisdom our grandparents impart on us,” she said. “I often hear friends and acquaintances say they wish they could be at least half the person their mother or father was – that’s the ultimate compliment. After all, our parents are our heroes. That means, at least to me, that grandparents are our super heroes.”

Shakespeare was right. Regardless of what a grandparent is called, the name means love.