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I always knew that I'd be a fireman one day!!! Allen at Engine 47, Ladder Truck 20 (Detroit, 1968) Serving Our Country, Serving
Our Community... |
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Saturday, November 24, 2007
What's In A Name???
My wife is seven months pregnant with our second child. And finally, after months of
negotiating, we have agreed upon a name for our son. Technically my wife had the naming rights to him. We
agreed that she would get to choose the name of our second child when she awarded me the naming rights for our first
son. I chose Giovanni Massimo. "Massimo" means "powerful" and "mighty". It is a fitting
name for him. I can tell that he will be a leader. On the playground, the football field, the classroom and, someday, the
boardroom. One of my goals as a father is to impress upon my children the importance of their name. And to
impress upon them how important it is to honor that name. These seem like outdated ideals nowdays. Which just might explain
why so many families are in crisis.
As I mentioned, my wife had the naming rights for our second
child. Although she scoured the baby name books she always seemed to come up with names while watching Access Hollywood
or HBO. She liked the name that Julia Roberts named her child. Then she liked the name of some character in a new HBO
series. The HBO thing would have been acceptable if it was Tony or Paulie...maybe even Jimmy the Knife or Johnny the Hammer.
But it wasn't. It was some Hollywood, trendy, here-today, gone-tomorrow name that I wasn't sure how to pronounce...much
less spell. The character was a sissy and I blamed it all on his name. Giovanni would have spent much of his childhood defending
his younger brother from playground bullies if my wife had chosen our newest son's name.
So, I did what any good father would have done. I offered her cash for the naming rights. You know, like Comerica
Park or the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Cold hard cash in her hands if I could name our son. She refused. Repeatedly. Well, that's
not entirely true. She did offer to relinquish the naming rights for the price of a new car. That wasn't going to happen
so I just acceprted that Giovanni was going to get into a lot of fights over the next 15 years or so.
But deep down my wife knows how important my sons are...and how little everything else means to me in the scheme of things.
So one night while laying in bed reading the baby names book, I hit upon the following names: Giacomo Giuseppe. And guess
what? She agreed. So one day in about two months little Giacomo Giuseppe Fiorletta will be welcomed into the world. And together
with Giovanni they will rule the playground, the football field, the classroom and the boardroom. And they will
adore their Mom. Just like I do.
7:06 pm
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