We Were Born To Make Mistakes

"She's beautiful. Have you chosen a name?"

This was one of the weirder moments in my life. I mean, I have never even had a cavity in my lifetime, never mind had someone working IN my cesarean abdominal cavity. I heard my baby's father say, "Her name is Eve."

"Eve. That's a beautiful name." said Dr. Wilson.

"Thanks. We like it so much, that if we had a boy, we would've named him 'Steve'!"

So I don't know if you can imagine what it feels like to have a surgeon burst out laughing while he is working on you. OK, it wasn't really a burst, but it started out as a snicker and built up into a sincere whole-hearted laugh. I mean, the doctor stopped and put down his instruments for a second. It's just one of many reasons why I'm gonna marry this guy. He CAN be pretty funny, just please don't ever tell him so.

We wanted a name that was simple to spell, simple to pronounce. A name that she wouldn't have to repeat every time she introduced herself. A real name, not just a collection of sounds that seemed neat at the time. In the end, we had picked out 4 or 5 girl's names, but we always knew that "Eve" would be her name. She is our first. Eve was, by biblical standards, the first. She (Eve of the bible, not Eve of our family) is also responsible for the demise of the human race for eating the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden after giving in to temptation. So why in the "heck" would anyone want to name their daughter Eve?

Well, like Eve of the bible, we all make mistakes. It's part of being human. It's how we learn and it's how we grow. We shall embrace her mistakes and call them lessons. We will give her enough space so that she might form her own opinions of love and life, of self, of purpose, of mortality. We will learn more from her than we can ever teach. She is most certainly, the light of our lives.