Gage, It's All in His Name

Heidi and I have gotten pretty good at choosing names for our children. We worked out a system that had stages. The first stage was kind of the brainstorming stage. We both took a separate pad of paper and just started a long list of every name we liked. We then compared the two lists for similarities. Sure, there was some arguing still. I was over ruled on Roland and Otis every time I tried to sneak them in.

With Gage, we never really got past that brainstorming list. Heidi had written the name down, I had not. But, as I read over her list, the name really clicked for me. There was a small, sly voice in the back of my mind reminded me that there was a tragic Gage character in Stephen King's novel, Pet Sematary. "We are seriously considering naming our child after a character in a horror novel," the sly little voice said gleefully. I chose not to voice this little tidbit out loud. As we discussed it, and the name was moved toward the top of the list of potentials, another small voice inside wondered if using such a name wasn't a bad omen of sorts.

I beginning to wonder that myself. I won't give away any major plot points from King's novel, but our Gage does exhibit some of the fictional Gage's more tragic attributes.

Now that I'm the stay-at-home parent, it seems like Gage is constantly causing me to question my parental abilities. He's always trying to do something dangerous. I think our first born son, Owen may have given me a false sense of security. He rarely endangered himself.

It's kind of like Gage has read the handbook on ways that children can have household accidents. It's like he has this to-do list that he's testing me with, and I'm failing a bit.

In reality, he's really a lot like my brother Bob. Gage enjoys the outdoors, wrestling, exploring, getting dirty. We haven't lost track of him only to find him inside the dog house sharing a dog food meal yet. He also hasn't found his way into my garage and doused his clothing in gasoline (both things my brother pulled off as a two year old), but I surely wouldn't be surprised by either incident. He's also like Bob in that Gage is a bit of a Mama's boy especially when his Mama is around.

I can't wait until he's a daredevil teenager, skydiving off of tall buildings with a bungie cord and hover board. Oh, they'll totally have hover boards by then. And Michigan will likely be part of New Canada, but I'm getting off topic…

My point being, I think this kid will always need extra attention. I'm sure I'll be up worrying more about adventurous Gage than bookworm Owen. It may be hard to tell sometimes, but I am equally happy to have a kid that stretches my abilities and another that is easy to handle.