A Rose By Any Other Name...

We named our daughter Rose Luella Lee.  We named her long before she was born, the minute we said Rose out loud we knew that is what she would be.  The name Rose has several family ties for me, first, I was raised in Roseville, Minnesota.  My grandfather grew roses and entered them in competitions, Rosie is my step-great grandmother's name and a favorite aunt's middle name.  I love roses, I have several rose tattoos and pink spray roses and garden roses are my favorite flowers.  Rose was also my favorite Golden Girl. 

Luella means warrior, and boy did we ever name Rose accurately.  What comes first though, the chicken or the egg?  Is she a warrior because of her name, or did we just guess extremely well with our little antagonistic daughter.  I sometimes wonder if we didn't bring her battling nature upon ourselves (and if so, should we name our next child Peace?)  No, I am not thinking about having another child, we have our hands full thankyouverymuch.

The name Lee means "plum tree" in Cantonese, the language of my husband's family.  They are from Hong Kong, and moved here when my mother in law was (unknowingly) expecting my husband Edwin.  The plum tree we planted when Rosie was born 17 months ago is already bearing fruit, way ahead of schedule and always pushing towards the sky - also so much like our young and tall warrior daughter.  We have been eating the fruit from the tree and it's sometimes bitter and sometimes tooth-achingly sweet.  Oh, you've met my daughter?  Sounds just like her doesn't it?

Sometimes I think the world is just full of meaning.  A few random musings for your Monday.  Hope you are surviving this ridiculously inconvenient BART strike, for those of you in the Bay Area.  I wish for you speedy commutes (or better yet, instant tele-commutes!)