How You Got Your Name

Kate,

Today seems an appropriate day to tell you how you got your name. I knew what I was going to name you long before you were ever born. It had been my dream for a long time to have a little girl and name her Katherine. We found out on an ultrasound that you were a girl about halfway through my pregnancy, but I knew before that. I knew you were the little girl I had dreamed of and I knew your name was Katherine.

Katherine is the name of your grandmother, my mom. She died before you were born, when I was a teenager. She was a very special woman. She loved little babies and devoted much of her life to helping them. She was so silly, just like you are. Sometimes when you smile at things I can see a little bit of her face shining through yours. She was the most important person in my life, and I named you after her because I wanted to honor her, and because I wanted you to have a special connection with your grandmother, even though you won't be able to know her on this Earth.

When I think about it, I feel sad that you won't get to know your grandmother. I know she would have loved to be there when you were born. I know she is sad that she isn't here to see you grow and to play with you and give you hugs and kisses. I know that she would have wanted to do that so badly.

That is why I am telling you about this on Easter. Because whenever I feel sad that your grandmother is no longer on this Earth, I think about our savior, Jesus Christ. I think about the words the angel said to Mary: "He is risen". When Jesus Christ lived on the Earth he did something very important: He laid down his life for the sins of the world. But in order to complete the atonement he had to do something else. He took his life up again. He was resurrected.

He lives.

This part is the most important. Because Jesus Christ was resurrected, so will we all be resurrected. Because of Easter, your grandmother will get to live again. She will get to hug you and kiss you and do all those things she can't do now. And so while I named you after her in order that you may feel a special connection with her while on this Earth, the most important part is that you will have the opportunity to be connected to her forever in heaven.

This knowledge, the knowledge that Jesus Christ lives, has given me such profound peace in my life. I hope that as you grow older and learn about Jesus you will feel that peace, too. It is the peace of knowing that there is life after death, and that families exist beyond the veil of this Earth.

Love,

Mom