What's in a Name?

At night my mind swirls with boys' names.

I feel sentimental about honoring past generations.

I want to give my son a name that connects him to his past, but is all his own.

And so I look for inspiration. And my thoughts linger over the lives of my grandfathers' and great uncles' generation.

Perhaps this is why I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. I finished reading about Louie Zamperini's incredible life a few weeks ago, but his story keeps circulating in my head.

The poem Invictus reminds me of Louie. I keep the poem on my fridge as a reminder.....

I don't know what my son's name will be. But I know his name will connect him to the brave men in our families who lived in this way:

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. William Ernest Henley