Names

Mary Day was baptized December 5th at our church, Bethel Lutheran. She wore a century-old heirloom. Converted from a wedding dress, her baptismal gown was first worn by her great-great-great grandfather Jarl (Dorian's side of the family) when he was baptized. Here's a picture of her trying it on the night before:

From Mary Day's Second Month (Dec)

It was a beautiful service. She slept through most of it, stirring only once—when the water was poured over her head. The service itself took about 15 minutes, but I've posted a short excerpt:


Mary Day's Baptism from PJ Bentley on Vimeo.

(Thanks to my Uncle Phil for agreeing to shoot the video.)

Right before he baptized her, Past Bill Coffman asked us to share a little bit about Mary Day's name. (I didn't post the video for that because the audio wasn't so great.) We appreciated the chance to do so. People often ask if "Mary" or "Day" are family names. They aren't, but they have meaning for us.

Over the course of the pregnancy, we compiled a long list of possible names, some of them simple, some of them regal and elaborate. No matter what, Dorian wanted to wait until we met Mary before naming her.

As many of you know, Mary didn't show up until two weeks after her due date, and when she did, the labor did not go at all how we had planned. There were complications, and we were in the hospital for a stressful and exhausting 24 hours before Mary was born on a Tuesday morning. The moment she arrived, however, all of that stress and exhaustion went away. She was beautiful, and things were all of a sudden very simple, and kind of holy. All of the other names we had considered now seemed ostentatious. "Mary" was just right—beautiful, simple, kind of holy.

We chose "Day" for its literal meaning: the time when the sun is up and everyone is awake. The morning of her birth it was raining outside, but the sun was shining at the same time. Her middle name reflects that moment, and we wanted a name that would be a testament to the kind of person we hope she becomes—wakeful and full of light.

Nevermind that we called her "Baby L" for months while she was still in the womb. When it came down to it, she just looked like a Mary Day. It fit. And we've come to discover that it fits nicely into a lot of nursery rhymes and children's songs.

We've got nicknames for her, too. Most of them involve "little" or "pie." How did "pie" make its way into the baby nickname lexicon?

During red-alarm meltdowns, Mary Day is known as "MAYDAY." Thankfully, those episodes are infrequent enough that the name hasn't stuck.