Giant Coincidence

In 2006, I was blessed beyond measure - even more than usual. On August 7th of that year, we were in Louisville, Kentucky where my youngest daughter, Sarah, gave birth to a little girl and named her Mary Addison. Sarah made it very clear that the Mary part of her newborn's name had been planned for a long time and she was named after me. That is an honor of overwhelming proportions.

Two week's later we were in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas where my son, Dan, became the proud father of a brand new baby girl. And he and his wife named her Tessa Mary. And they made it clear that the Mary part of her name was after me. I know pride goeth before a fall but I was SO proud.

I wanted to send press releases to all the local newspapers. It was amazing to have two new granddaughters only two weeks apart but then for them to have these unusual names each with Mary being the usual part. Well that was beyond belief. Here we are in 2007 at Christmas time - Tessa Mary, Me, and Mary Addison:

I come from a big, sprawling family. I have first cousins whose names I get mixed up because I just don't know them well. The only times we might all get together are for some weddings, some funerals, and maybe family reunions. I went to the family reunion last year but I might have missed the year before that. It seems like everybody misses sometime but if you go often enough, you'll be able to re-connect with everybody over the course of a few years.

This year my cousin, Cecil, called me to RSVP the reunion. While we chatted, he casually mentioned that he had two new granddaughters........born in April, two days apart. Wow! I told him that I'd always been so proud to have new granddaughters born two WEEKS apart. Wouldn't you know, he'd have to show me up.

I told him my granddaughters' names and he didn't seem real impressed - evidently he only paid attention to the Mary part of their names. He said, "I'll bet MY granddaughters have names you haven't heard of much. I asked what they were and he said..........Tessa........and Addison.

Are you kidding me? Tessa and Addison? When mine were Tessa Mary and Mary Addison?

Is that a giant coincidence or WHAT?!