Eden Autry
September 20, 2010 “They grow up way too fast” is the understatement of the millennium. Eden is almost six and one of the brightest first graders ever to grace the halls of Stockton Christian School. She is full of life and I do believe she has some artistic inclinations from somewhere in here genes. I love her so much that words cannot say. At every wedding, the father-daughter dance chokes me up and the remarks from a father to his daughter and vice-versa move my heart. I’m not sure what it is, I can’t really put a thumb on it but I sure hope that the years between now and then for us will slow down so I can enjoy Eden Autry.
A lot of people seem to really enjoy the names of our children (Eden and Huntley) and this makes me smile. The painstaking effort in deciding on a name for your child is so unappreciated in my opinion! It would be easy to just take a name from a book, or the most popular name list for that year, and say “here we go”. But I think a name should be considered and decided on with much thought and pondering. “Eden” is Hebrew and reflects purity, simplicity and beauty. I love how short and sweet the name is and how it completely sums up my Eden! Autry is the name of a dear friend that I lost in middle school. Autry Pritchett was one of my first girlfriends in 7th grade and quite a beautiful young lady inside and out. She was extremely artistic, outgoing and had a perpetual smile that crossed all of the boundaries imposed by the clicks of 7th grade. She was awesome. I’ll never forget the night my mom picked me up from baseball practice to tell me that Autry was at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto after being hit while riding her bike to Keri’s house. The feeling was indelible and forever etched in my memory. That night I couldn’t leave my room. I prayed earnestly for her up until I received a call from a mutual friend that she had passed away. Our little community of friends at Jordan Middle School in Palo Alto, CA grieved together for days and weeks. We looked at photos together, spent time at her home comforting Autry’s mother and just generally dealing with the loss as best we could as 7th graders. Somewhere over the course of that week I went out to a bench at our school where we had carved our initials in the wood. I sat there and with clear resolve I remember thinking that if I ever have a daughter, I’m going to keep Autry’s name alive. There was no question when Eden was born what her middle name would be. So that, my friends, is how Eden was named almost six years ago. Maybe next week I’ll share how we came up with Huntley Drew. Enjoy.
