When I was pregnant with my first (10 years ago) I still had one of my grandmothers with me .... literally. We were together every day. I woke up, gave the hubs a kiss, did my chores and had breakfast with her -- spent all my spare time with her, and she was for all intensive purposes my best friend in the world.
She was the one who went with me to my ultrasound. She helped me to pick out names, and name possibilities. We tried for months to come up with a good girl's name. I wanted to find a way to mesh her name and my other gramma's name. It was impossible. We tried every single combo. Especially hard when you consider the whole story. My bff gramma that I lived next door to was named Mary. No middle name. well, later in life, she said her middle name was Evangeline. HOWEVER, it was a middle name she gave to herself, after her godmother. So, technically, not really her middle name. All I had to work with at the time for her, was Mary. My other grandmother, whom, she didn't really get along well with for years *though they did have a pretty good understanding of each other, and were civil, and even friendly when I was a kid, and growing up* had passed away a few years before, so I couldn't consult with her too, or I would have. Probably would have started a huge fight between the two of them all over again. Anyhow, her name was Lily Ranghild. WELL. I'm down with Lily. Ranghild is old Norse for 'war council', so .... that was out. Mary Ranghild -- um, no. Mary Lily --- no. Lily Mary ... also, no.
During all this, Gram got a little teary eyed (killed me)and told me 'don't ever name a baby Mary. It's too tough a name for any baby to carry'. Well, that threw the whole thing out the window. She told me to name her after my mother instead. I'm sure Mom would be thrilled with a little Christine Lynn.
The name I had in mind for my first was Anna Rika. After both of my Swedish great grandmothers, but it didn't matter. We had a boy, and named him the highly original exactly after his father with a JR tagged on the end.
The 2nd baby we lost ... never got to see her in any way, (don't know if it was a boy or girl for sure) but in my mind, I named her Emma.
Third baby was a boy again. He was named for my father, which was great, partly because Gram was still with us, and loved it. She got to know him, and hold him, and he matched up closely with her description of how my father looked at her in the delivery room when he finally made his appearance, but also because I couldn't come up with a great girls' name, and I couldn't use my girl's name I came up with for my oldest since she had a little girl not long after my 1st was born and named her Hannah. WAY too close to Anna. Couldn't do it.
Now, this one. I couldn't possibly NOT find out ahead of time if it was a boy or girl. I would have lost my marbles. No, really. We knew ahead what Davey was, to prep Lar Jr. I couldn't handle it wondering about it any longer than absolutley necessary. Now, i have a girl on the way, and the girls' name problem reared it's ugly head. This is the first baby in our family with Gramma gone. I lost my partner in crime. She passed away last year. Ma is spending time with me & the boys, but it's just not the same. I love Ma, and we get along great, but her perspective is so close to my own sometimes that there just isn't that different angle that I always got from Gram. I miss both Grammas so deeply that I knew that this is my one and only shot at honoring them both with a little girl named for them. My rule was simple. No naming after just one. It was both or nothing. So it started. Add to that, Gramma's request to NOT name a baby Mary added to the challenge. I ran through the names. Lily was going to be the first name. How could I get Gram in there? She had no middle name and Lily Mary just doesn't work right in my mouth.
Then it hit me.
When my folks were dating, my mom gave Gramma Mary a nickname. One that she embraced. So much so that I thought her nickname was her name until I was probably 9 or 10 years old. I would get angry when cousins called her by her given name, because it wasn't her name. If it was good enough for her to sign just about every single card she ever gave me, good enough to answer to for maybe 40+ years of her life -- WHY couldn't I use that for my baby's middle name?
After all, there are millions of Mary's in the world. There has only ever been one Flash.
So, her name will be Lily Flash in honor of both of my beloved Grandmothers. The pictures represent the names .... the lily for, well --- Lily. And the shoes? well, Gramma Flash once had a pair of gold high heels she had pictures taken in. She must have loved them, because she had them in her closet for decades. When I saw these little suckers at Target, I had to have them for little Flash/Lily. The timing was just too perfect.
SO. Now you know. That's the story. Lily Flash will be here in the fall. I will be proud if she follows the example set by either one of those fabulous fantastic women.
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