Choosing a name for your unborn child is not easy. You haven’t even met this person, but you are given the responsibility to assign something that will influence the world’s first impression of them for the rest of their lives. Sure, there are books, articles, and lists that you can search through for ideas, but ultimately, your own intuition sways you one way or another. Do I want a child named Gibbledigorp? Does that sound like someone others would like to know? Or, will the world laugh at the name, and discount all that my child has to offer? Heavy. I know.

Naming The Girlie wasn’t too difficult for my husband and I. We only had to come up with a first name because, in my family, the same middle name is passed from one generation to the next. It started when Caroline decided to give her first-born daughter the name, Caroline, as a second name. It went on from there, and my mom’s middle name is Caroline, as is mine, and now, too, The Girlie’s. I love it. The first move by my great-grandmother was quite purposeful. Not only is she remembered each time a first-born daughter comes into our family, the love she must have felt for her own little girl envelops this newly born person.

There are repeating names on my husband’s side of the family as well, but there are also physical items that likewise carry emotional weight and significance. One of these is a set of cufflinks. Hubby’s grandfather bought some gold nuggets many years back while on vacation in Alaska. When he returned home, he turned them into cufflinks and a tie clip. He also had molds made so that he could reproduce three identical cufflink sets for his sons to wear. As these sons married, and grandsons were born, the molds were called upon to create additional sets, each stored until the right time. It’s a beautiful tradition, and downright tear producing at fancy occasions when everyone dresses up and wears their own, but matched, set.

This weekend, my nephew was given his great-grandfather’s original set of cufflinks. Great-Nonnie was alive when my nephew was born, but knowing that she would likely not live to give him this gift herself, she took the time to craft a letter of brief explanation instead. When he wears his cufflinks tonight at his first formal, he will most certainly carry his great-grandparents’ love with him. We can’t wait to see the pictures…

Message of the Day: Love never dies. It passes on from one person to another. If you are lucky to receive your family’s affection, nurture and protect it for the next generation. If your emotional inheritance, however, is small to none, start your own legacy choosing to love yourself. The sentiments you create today will pass forward to those who come after you.