More on the Cast

Why Bump?

I was originally going to refer to myself as Bump. I liked the near-rhyme with Lumpyhead, and I thought “sitting here like a bump on a blog” was clever. I imagine about 1,000 people have already thought of that, but whatever. When I started writing in the first person, I didn’t seem to need a name for myself. “I” was working just fine, so I slapped the name on my husband. He’s a stay-home dad who used to work for a law firm downtown. He laughs easily, which is one of the things I like about him. Bump thinks puns are funny, so I make them a lot. Never used to do that. Now my friend Peter says I’m worse than Bump.


What’s an Aunt Bob?

“Aunt Bob” is a title, more than a name. Jean is my best friend, after Bump. When her son Patrick was born, I worried it would take several years for him to learn to say my actual name. He was already babbling “bah bah bahb” so I hijacked “Bob” and claimed he was talking about me. Jean was a little bitter when her son seemed to refer to me as “Bob” before he said “Mama” while looking at her, and I felt pretty smart that I got in on the ground floor of the whole name thing. Patrick is nearly three now, and can say my name just fine, so Jean became Lumpyhead’s Aunt Bob. Jean's married to Peter (see "puns," above).