Every couple has their own style when it comes to naming children. With Karsten and Taegan, we selected names that were uncommon enough that people would initially respond with a furrowed brow, a long pause, followed by "Oh, that's...nice." As the children grew, however, their given names gained greater acceptance. At least one person has confessed to us that they silently disapproved of the names we selected initially, but grew to love the names as she increasingly associated them with our children. Their names simply fit them.
Once we learned that our new arrival would be male, we determined we would follow the same pattern as before. We looked to our recent past for inspiration.
This is Langdon Lake, situated in the Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon near where Melissa and I grew up. It's a private lake -- accessible only to the homeowners along its shore. One of those homeowners kindly granted us exclusive use of their lake house on our wedding night over a decade ago. It's a beautiful, peaceful place.
This is 17-year-old Ardythe Wilde. She came from Union, Oregon, where she knew a boy named Duane Wood. She made Duane want to be a better man. He eventually asked her to marry him. Her name changed to Ardythe Wood, but she still made people want to become better. I loved her and Duane long before I had any notion of marrying their youngest daughter. We think about Ardythe everyday. Her latest grandson may not have the opportunity to sit at her knee in this life -- but he'll carry her name wherever life takes him.
We join Karsten and Taegan in welcoming Langdon Wilde Stoddard into our family.
