moosh

Our first daughter Malina was born on this day twenty-five years ago. I remember the day well. We were scheduled for a 10am appointment at the hospital to determine if my wife was going to have to be induced into labor because she was already 10 days past her due date. I had just come back from a 4 mile jog and was in the yard puttering around in the garden when my wife suddenly opened the kitchen window and asked: how long are you going to be farting around over there...I think I'm going into labor. Holy shit, don't panic...let me panic from here on in. For us, birth was always a mystery. We never knew if we were having a boy or a girl so, we always had two names going on just in case. If Malina would have been a boy...I'm pretty sure we had the name Jacob picked out. We already had our Luke so we figured Luke and Jake would be a nice combo. So why not name the child Jake to begin with you might be thinking....nah, that would be too easy. I love how names take on different variations. Malina is an unusual name and from what I've read...it's a Spanish derivative of Magdalena...but it's also a Polish word for berry...and my wife also accuses me of always wanting to make things sound Polish. Like when I used to call Malina... Malina Mooshniego when she was a toddler. Mooshniego is not Polish, but to an Irish bride, it probably sounds that way. The same goes for our Kellie Noel who I tagged with Kelka Noelka. And Julie Rose became Rousa and she now is lovingly called Rose by me and Luke sometimes was called Lukasz and sometimes Boogie Luke...but now Luke suffices. Sometimes nicknames stick...why I don't know. But today Moosh is 25 and as much as I love Malina....I'm glad moosh had some staying power. And with all my kids....I danced with them all in the front room with Dr John singing....such a night.  What a crazy song...what a blessed life I have.