What's in a name?

The beautiful writer over at Please Send Parenting Books just wrote up a piece on her newest son's name - its meaning and history within her family and culture and I was inspired to do the same.

Her birth story.

I know, i know.  But so many words.  So much time.

So. little. time. (and so many less hands to type with than usual)

So this is a tide-over :)

Our name choices for our children come from two places - family members and saints we hold dear.  Like her brothers, our princess has two middle names - the second of which is my maiden name.  Mostly because I love that name and because there are none of our family left to carry it (two daughters and my dad has a sister), so its my little contribution to the family tree.  Also, its my hispanic claim to fame, so I like to throw it around like a heavyweight reminding everyone that I'm really not as whitey-white Irish as I seem to be.  The boys also have spanish middle names to go with my maiden name of García, but we think that will be a boy thing since none of our girl name options have worked out that way.

I will add though that it was almost a last minute, final hour decision to boot it in favor of Therese (as a second middle), simply because she was almost born on the feast of the Little Flower, whom both of us dearly, dearly love.  Coincidentally, St. Therese shares the same last name as we have, so it would have been kind of cool.  However, in the duke out between the Little Flower and the Guardian Angels, St. Therese must have gracefully conceded so my maiden name stayed :)

Our daughter's first name is Rita.  St. Rita of Cascia was an Italian wife, mother and eventual Augustinian nun.  In truth of fact, I don't know terribly much about her (except that she had stigmata of the crown of the thorns) except that she is the patroness of impossible causes and very providentially but quite unexpectedly became the patroness of our family shortly before our wedding.

 In the October before we got married (ha! I just recalled that!), we were counting pennies and tallying receipts for the upcoming occasion, trying to figure out how to make ends meet to pay for the party, put down the deposit on our first apartment and take some kind of honeymoon.  I was working at a parish called St. Augustine's doing Youth Ministry and very randomly, they happened to have a statue of St. Rita on the side of the Church.  Random saint, good times - I had never really "heard" of her, only in passing, no particular devotion, etc.

One night after some event, I walked through the vestibule to use the bathroom and saw a lone novena prayer card to St. Rita, labeled under her title of patroness of impossible causes.  I thought, well our finances are pretty impossible, it can't hurt to ask!  I told Brian, who wasn't yet Catholic, that I would be praying for our situation - which most certianly was *not* dire, but just enough to stress out a young bridetobe on a Church salary and her unemployed, writer fiancee - and St. Rita would need credit (jokingly) should it work out.

Before the nine days were concluded, a family member who Brian had mentioned things to, send us a check.  Apparently, he claims he asked him (I don't remember that being the case), but the amount!  Oh the amount!  More than ever imagined, more than enough - St. Rita is oh so generous in her largesse!

So I promised her, should we ever have a daughter, I'd name her after her.  I really like her name and fortunately, Brian did too and hey, wasn't it the least I could do?

And now, almost eight years later, our debt is repaid :)  Not of course, that St. Rita helped us because of a bargain, or that we "owe" saints gifts for their prayers or even God for His grace and love, but more of a thank you.  A huge thank you and a constant reminder that St. Rita loved us enough, two people who had never really "met" her before, to bother Him on our behalf - to help make the start of our new family a joy and bring a little peace to our young, foolish hearts.  She mothered her own children first and now from heaven, she helps mother the rest of us.

So, after that, we knew she was to be our family saint and now, she has her own little daughter (as I recall she had only sons) to share with us.

Or you know, her name hasn't been on the SS list since the 1950s and she's trying to make a comeback.  One of the two!

Rita's middle name is Maureen.  Its Irish for Mary and it is not only my middle name, but most importantly, my maternal grandmother's name. 

She died of breast cancer when I had just finished sixth grade and while the grief has faded, it still pops up now and again.  She was too young to be a "Grandma" so we called her Moe.  She was a wonderful woman and mother to six and oh what I wouldn't *give* to hear her birth stories!

She loved sports and while I stink at them, I'm sure to her chagrin, she definitely passed along the enjoyment of [playing] them to me and the importance of what team sports can do in  your life - the virtue and character it builds in young men and women and how both boys and girls gain something special from participating.  She's the reason behind where I went to high school and the one why I can almost 100% confidentially say my daughters won't be cheerleaders.  Not that there's anything wrong with that!  Its certainly athletic!  But Moe always, always said, why stand on the sidelines when you could be in the game?

Really, its a life lesson.

So, Maureen is for her.  ((Cue postpartum hormonal sobbing all over keyboard))

And the times I miss her most are when I look at my children running amuck and think, Darnit.  I *wish* she could be here to enjoy them; to play baseball with Johnny (and one day the rest) and to talk Red Sox and all things sports with my husband - oh how I wish they had met.

This name of our daughters is not a light one - two amazing women - devoted to their families, full of spit and vinegar.  I'm kind of hoping for a future softball playing nun - maybe even a Carmelite!