My Name Day

Now some of you are probably wondering what is a "name day". In the Greek Orthodox faith tradition, it is the special day which honors the Saint of whom you are named. Today, August 15th, we honor St. Mary. It is the day the Greek Orthodox's say that our blessed Mother fell asleep: Assumption Day.

Now, to diverge a moment to tell you how I was named. Once again, in the Greek Orthodox faith tradition, a baby is named by their Godmother, a very important relationship in a baby's life. My Godmother wanted me to be named after her: Mary. However, when I was still in the hospital with my mother, my Godmother's sister, SOPHIA, came to see me. When she asked my name, my mother told her "Mary". She smiled and said " she should be named, Maria. It is more beautiful and fits her well". So SOPHIA named me MARIA....smiling.

Hence, the importance of names. O'Mesa is our name for the beautiful property we were blessed to find in the middle of Willow City. Naturally, there's a story behind the way we found our beautiful home site, however today I want to share with you how O'Mesa was named. We were trying to come up with a name that was easy and yet represented our family property well. Many folks got involved trying to come up with names and ideas. We kept saying we are going to the "Mesa". Bill L'Heiux from Toronto was visiting with his wife, Janet, and we kept saying we want to show you the "Mesa". He blurted out "We are going to the O'Brien's Mesa, O'Mesa". We all laughed and said we like that, Bill! It just rolled off his tongue with ease and we all agreed it was a good name for this unique property. It is simple and fits like a fine leather glove. And so it was named O'MESA.

Isn't it interesting that when you try to be creative or problem solve, it doesn't seem to happen easily? BUT when you relax and just let things happen, that some of the best ideas and solutions seem to form. "Let Go, Let God". Hmmm...I am finally learning to get out of HIS way!