Babies and their names

The Ridgecrest newspaper printed a special section the other day: photos of local babies born in 2009, their names, birthdates, and parents' names. Within the section there were also numerous ads for local businesses which included photos of new babies that had some connection with the business -- their parents worked there or their grandparents owned the business or whatever.

I scanned the pages eagerly, looking for weird names and kre8tiv spellings. Here are a few of my favorites (omitting the last names):

Sophealee Jean (how is that first name pronounced?)
Alissia Alissandra (ssssss)
Athena Nirvana
Jaize Lily
Talon Michael Louise (boy or girl?)
K'Naire Shyron
Araeh Sunshine
Preslynn Lillie
Makennah Rose

But actually there were more normal names than weird ones. There was even a set of twins named Henry and Matthew.

What I started noticing was the number of relatives listed with the babies. Not just parents in some cases, but grandparents, even great-grandparents. Little Jaize Lily up there was listed with her 2 parents, 5 grandparents (obviously a remarriage in there somewhere), and 7 great-grandparents. Seven living great-grandparents.

My babies have no living great-grandparents. And no living grandparents. The last grandparent died 7 weeks before they were born.

Little Jaize Lily also had her own display ad, because she's the descendant of a Machine Shop that shares her last name. Another baby, Addyson Olivia, is the descendant of an Insurance Agency. It appears that her mother, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather all work or worked for the company. Her display ad tells when each one "came to the Indian Wells Valley." Great-great-grandad came in 1945 (presumably as an adult), great-grandad in 1948 (I assume that's when he was born), grandad in 1968, mom in 1989, and of course the new baby in 2009. In other words they're all about 20 years apart in age.

I was in my 40s when I had the boos. My mother was nearly 40 when she had me. Her mother was nearly 40 when she had her. You could have fit an extra generation in between each of us.

I don't really want to belong to a Ridgecrest-type family, with the generations so squished together and everyone living down the street from each other, but I wonder if the babies might like it.

Missing my sweet mother tonight.