What's in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

I actually disagree with the above statement.... I think there is everything in a name... Because when I just hear the word 'rose' ... I can smell its sweetness

We (Suresh and I) have reached a season in our lives where we are yet again at a point of name squabbling. Suresh has graciously and like a true gentleman put down his sword and said ..'Its pointless ... Rohini's choice is going to prevail!' ... Either he has given up on me or he totally loves how Isaac's name matches his personality. And how the sound of the name Isaac makes us both 'laugh'. {Isaac - Hebrew for Laughter}

Time for a flash back. Also a good note for Isaac to read years down the line on how we came up with 'Isaac George Joel'.

Isaac was born to us after 6.5 years of marriage. I had given up. I thought I would never bear a child. I was ok with the thought of it. When lo and behold we are blessed. We were blessed not just to conceive a child ... but an awesome pregnancy.

I remember the days of squabbling with Suresh. In his mind he had the name 'Jacob' and of course the first thought that goes across my mind is 'deceiver'? Of course Jacob redeems himself as you keep reading the old testament. But still. I had two names in my mind 'Samuel' and 'Isaac'. Both were born to parents after a long wait. Both were born to mothers who had spent a great deal of time crying for them. Samuel was thrown out of the window, I cannot remember why now. And so we were left with Isaac and Jacob. Father and son :)

We came home one day after church and I remember someone at church had mentioned that my son would be exactly like my father-in-law. We had recently lost my dad-in-law and though we do not believe in reincarnation... someone had been silly enough to say something like that. Now do not get me wrong, I love my dad-in-law... but I had also lost my father recently and girls are always daddy's little girls and so I was thinking... well why not have some of my dad's characteristics ... after all gene-wise ... it comes from both sides. I came home and was probably so hormonal that I started crying... In the midst of tears I told Suresh I wanted my dad's name as part of my son's name and I wanted his dads name too. And then in the midst of this unseasonal shower of tears .. I asked him what was wrong with the name Isaac. The poor dude was caught so off guard that he didn't see it all coming!

And so it came to be Isaac George (After my dad) Joel (after Suresh's dad). Isaac is true to his name. He is currently going through his shy phase where he take a while to warm up to a stranger. But on the whole, he brings laughter to us. He never wakes up crying. In fact there are days that through the baby monitor we hear him whispering to himself when he wakes up... but no cries. I remember when we went to India at age 4 months for Isaac, my sister picked him up once and said 'Look at this boy ... true to his name' and he had the cutest grin on his face. He is now showing some amount of stubborn behavior which could be one of three things

1. Age

2. Grandpa Joel and George or

3. Mom and dad

We are thankful to God for blessing us with laughter and now blessing us again.

Time to put on the armor to fight Suresh for the name!

Its all in the name!