Naming

This past weekend on April, 15 we held a "naming ceremony" for the boys. As Heather and I belong to a local Unitaritan Universalist church, it made sense that we hold something like this event there. The ceremony went fantastic. The godparent's speeches were all very complementary, and dare I say, touching. Our minister did an excellent job of bringing everyone into the moment, and injected sincerity into a ceremony that can often be dry as dirt.

I am not a Christian. Although I was raised one, somewhere along the way in my life Christianity's tune no longer caught my ear. I don't decry it. I don't look down on it. It's just not for me any longer. However, I have an undeniable belief in what I can best describe as "the great mystery" or "the divine". In the most convenient terms, I believe.

At the risk of sounding pompous, I have found my own way and am comfortable in my own faith. Therefore, it was important to mark my son's birth with ritual. In a Joseph Campbell way, I believe in the power of ritual within society. It seems to be fading away within recent years and anything that smacks of spirituality or religion seems more like a hobby nowadays. It is a loss lamentable and consequently drove me to incorporate it within my own life. So, we had our ritual.

The foundation of baptism or christenings is to wash the sin from a baby. I can not give myself to believe that a newborn has anything sinful attached to it, so our ceremony, our ritual, was merely one to recognize these boys as they are, and to celebrate love that brings us all together. If only briefly.

The party afterwords was fab as well. We are blessed with friendship.

Heather pouring the champers.

Derek and Kate. Derek had the best line of the day when after holding a very sleepy Finn for a while, looked up and said "This baby is boring". Brilliant man. Truth be told, at 2 a.m. the babies are not so boring, and very different adjectives apply.

Beerage. It helps with changing diapers.

Misty, motherhood becomes you.

(Thanks to Ted L. for all of these photos. They rock pal.)