All of this baptism talk sent me digging through the archives to find pictures of Sarah Jane and Anna when we had them baptized. For Sarah Jane we threw a big party and invited everyone. She wore the same Christening gown that I wore, along with her Aunts, her grandmother and her Great-Grandmother.
Her godmothers were Aunt Carrie (aka Kiki, though she hadn't yet been "named") and Aunt Whitney.
Dave held Sarah Jane like a football and didn't notice when everyone laughed.
We invited everyone we loved, and everyone came!
Like a very lucky bride, Sarah Jane had two outfits, but her mother didn't think to brush her hair. I don't think I'd realized that was part of my job yet.
Dave read an excerpt from JFK's speech at American University:
So, let us not be blind to our differences -- but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.
Carrie (I think) read the following:
On Children
Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Carrie is that right? I don't actually remember but this is so perfect, I have to believe it is what we chose. Whitney read the Robert Leavens prayer.
Anna's baptism had a smaller guest list. We had family and the Chuns, Sarah Jane's best friend Brady's family. Anna wore the same gown as Sarah Jane. She had spent the entirety of the previous 12 weeks asleep. That morning she decided to wake up and figure out crying. She shrieked the entire ceremony. Add that to the fact that Sarah Jane and Brady were running in circles yelling, and I'm pretty sure that no one heard a word. Anna's godmothers are Aunt Ellie and Aunt Julia who had just married Uncle Mike. Aunt Julia sent the following to be read, we thought it was lovely but knew that no one could hear it, I'm glad to share it now!
Firstly, to Anna Whitney:
In Jewish culture there is a Baby Naming Ceremony for girls. The object of this ceremony is to officially present the child with a Hebrew name, usually honoring a loved one who has passed on. In this touching ceremony, a Hebrew name is affectionately given to the baby in her parent's arms. The name Anna in Hebrew would be pronounced as Channah which means "favor" or "grace". Anna, you have truly graced your family with an amazing gift and we look forward to seeing you grow and prosper for many years to come.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said “I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.” Fortunately Anna, I know that your parents will foster your curiosity, both intellectually and spiritually, more than any other two people on this planet, so you will have to settle for clothes and purses from your godmother, Julia. With that said, it is not what you have in your life but who you have in your life, and you have truly been blessed with a amazing and loving family.
Secondly, to Dave and Abby:
As you have already learned, a baby has a special way of adding joy to every single day. "A baby also makes love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bank accounts smaller, a home happier, and the future worth living for." However, since you already know all of this, there is really only one thing I can say - So, as they say in Estonia ,“Palju õnne!” which means “Lots of happiness!”
Love,
Julia
Aunt Ellie read the Immortal Love prayer, once again! I read the following -
Dave and I wanted to use this opportunity, as we are surrounded by people we love, and who love us and who love our daughters, to talk a little about the name we chose for Anna.
When faced with the universe of names for our unknown baby, we knew we wanted both a pretty name and a name that would ground our daughter in what had come before her, and those things that will help influence who she will become.
Anna was an obvious choice. We love how it sounds; its symmetry, its simplicity and its timelessness.
Anna is also a family name; starting with my great-grandmother Anna Whitney, her daughter Eleanor, a combination of Ellen and Anna and my dear sister Eleanor Anne.
For the middle name, we wanted to honor a family member and while we tried on many different names, we kept coming back to Whitney.
Whitney has been a wonderful Aunt to Anna’s sister Sarah Jane and a dear sister to me. We can only hope that our daughter will be as smart, fun, witty and compassionate as their Aunt Whitney.
Anna Whitney is not a new combination. The first Anna Whitney in our family was born in 1876 in Fitchberg, MA. I never met the first Anna Whitney, but I grew up surrounded by her presence. Today we sat in a house she often visited. We ate the table she brought with her to California from Massachusetts. My father took photographs, a life-long love which was nurtured by hours spent with his grandmother. My grandmother Eleanor whom I loved dearly told me often that I looked like her mother, and whether or not that is true, I know it was the highest compliment she could give me.
So to my daughter Anna Whitney, I hope for you that you carry on three elements from the first Anna Whitney:
I hope you have strength and independence. Anna married late, at a time when women just didn’t do that and expected her husband to do the dishes at a time when men certainly didn’t do that.
I hope you live life with zest, love and appreciate the outdoors and do it all a little irreverently. My grandmother wrote that when Anna was a girl she “had a horse and went riding with her friends, she played tennis, skied, played basketball and played marbles with the boys.” She always had a pet, among them a cat named Jeddy Dyer, a welsh terrier named Taddy O’Gaddy and a flying squirrel! When she taught Sunday School as an unmarried lady, she had a class of boys – she took them outdoors to a field and taught them how to play baseball. Anna listened to baseball games with her grandsons and Uncle Dave remembers that she was an old lady she watched the Cassius Clay/Joe Lewis fight because she wanted to know what everyone was talking about.
Finally, I hope that you live life graciously. How lovely would it be if you had the same exquisite taste, knack for saying the right thing and endless capacity to spend your time being kind to others?
These are big shoes to fill dear little Anna but you are surrounded by all these lovely people who are here to love and nurture you as you grow up and we are all looking forward to knowing and loving who you will become.
Anna and her Aunt Ellie
