ALL IN A NAME

We have been asked quite often about how we came to our daughters name. Fortunately its usually on the heels of favorable responses to it and not a "what were you thinking" type of leed-in. Honestly - the first name, Rya, was something I had written down eons ago on a tattered piece of paper that I kept in my purse along with other baby name 'options' I favored (its a girl thing, I blame its innate cheesiness on estrogen) and I cannot for the life of me remember where I picked it up from. Mike had heard a woman calling to her daughter, West, in a store and rushed home to tell me he loved the name. I liked it too but we mid-westerners have a way of not properly enunciating and it comes out as 'Wess' when said quickly - and this was NOT a cool girl name. He was sticking to his guns and I to mine...until.

One day we were going to dinner and doing that typical "What do you want to eat hunny?" "I don't know what do YOU want?" exchange (a staple conversation in ANY good marriage). After a bit more of the same type of scintillating conversation he had revealed his craving - Some Guys Italian restaurant. Unfortunately for him, that was most certainly NOT what I wanted so he struck a deal, if I would relent to his choice of food establishment, he would let me choose the first name of our child. Look, I'm no dummy - so I nonchalantly said 'ok' and that's how Rya got her first name. Having a very common first and middle name myself, and in the spirit of compromise, we selected West for the middle name and there you have it! Of course we ran the combination through the "how will this sound when I am really salty at her for coloring on the sofa with a sharpie and I want to grab her attention by saying her full name" test. It works quite nicely actually.

And although my husband will, to this day, deny the fact that he gave up his 'rights' to our child's name selection over FOOD, we both love her moniker and hope it is a precursor for how unique and sassy our little girl will become.