"Our" Emily

While going back to school Landon started a landscaping company, and had a major contract at St. Mary's downtown to redo the path through the cemetery. The project was huge - he designed a herringbone pattern (everything Landon does, he does it big), and the outcome is really pretty. If you visit Charleston, St. Mary's is immediately behind Charleston Place.

That is where he encountered Emily.

In the very back of a very old cemetery he found a forgotten grave, dirty and completely covered in leaves that had mounded against the back fence. When he uncovered it, it really effected him. It was the grave of a very young child (an infant?), and the tombstone was inscribed "Our Emily".

This happened not long after Quinn was born. He came home and told me that if we had another baby, and it was a girl, he'd like to name her Emily in honor of that long forgotten child. Two years later, we had forgotten this. Until we were in Ireland this summer and encountered the name again. As soon as we saw it, we both exclaimed, "Emily! That's it!". Seriously, if we used words like "Eureka", it would have been the perfect moment to have used it. We didn't even discuss girls names after we remembered Emily.

The middle name is classic Carrie and Landon naming shenanigans. We had settled on a first name, and never really even discussed a middle. So, as Landon and I go, it was nearly time to check out of the hospital when we started discussing it. We listed some family names (I liked nearly all of them), and then Landon suggested "Frances". I commented that it overlapped with Joy's baby name (and Joy is so dear to my heart; Cora's god mother, my UTK roomie, and the best friend a girl could have during a time that was particularly hard for the both of us), and said directly that I just wasn't one to name my baby after the Pope, even if I thought this was the most compelling Pope in my short history of paying attention to the Pope.

I finished nursing Em and hopped in the shower. When I got out, Emily's name had been printed on the birth certificate, texted to friends and family, and been made Facebook official (you can't go back after something is made Facebook official).

Emily Francis.

It wasn't until later that I learned that the female version of "Francis" is actually "Frances". Don't be confused. The social security card came. Her name really is "Emily Francis Messal".
I declared that I would never ever ever write her middle name on anything, and I'm the one who does all the paperwork, so...

After I confirmed that Joy is indeed not upset that we also used a name similar to her baby name (she actually seemed pleased!)... it grew on me a bit more. That was my big concern. It's her first baby, afterall! Plus, my dad's step-uncle Francis was one of the funniest characters from my childhood, and always mailed me trinkets and gifts in between visits. In fact, if the turquoise stud earrings he sent me as a kid aren't still in my jewelry box, it is literally because I must have lost one in the last year. I bet that there are still others in the jewelry box in my bedroom at mom and dad's. The name grows on me more all the time.

An older lady at church asked me where we got her name. When I told her, she said, "There is some mother in heaven celebrating. You've named your baby in honor of hers, and she certainly knows it."

Our Emily.