A Peach by any other name...

I briefly mentioned in my first post that my blog name,A Peachy Kind of Love, was inspired by my most-used nickname for my daughter, Peach. What I didn't really explain was why/how I landed on that nickname.

I can't say I ever recall this, but when I was a baby my dad apparently called me Peach. I know this because of a few greeting cards I still have from my first year of life addressed to Peach, in his handwriting. I don't think it was completely intentional but I definitely got her nickname from that discovery.

My Dad& I late 1986

For the one or two people who don't know me personally (hello!!), I will tell you that my father passed away of Gastric Cancer in October of 2011 and therefore never got to meet my girl or even know that I was to be  pregnant soon after his passing. It's been a rough road of ups and downs but I do miss him everyday and lament the fact that he will never get to hold my sweet,sweet girl.

My Dad & I Summer 2011

 
I was actually due with her the same week of the first anniversary of his death. Throughout my pregnancy, I felt a strong connection with him, as if he was "watching over" and protecting me through her gestation. I'm not religious by any means - faithful, sure- but in many ways I feel more tied to my dad since his passing than I did while he was alive. I love, and have loved him all of my life - we just had a different relationship than I would have liked. Nevertheless, this is how Peach became Peach.

I had also thought I was going to keep our girls name a mystery to play up the whole peach thing but, in all honesty, I'm running out of pronouns. My girl is still my sweetest Peach, but from now on I will also call her by name- Alison. Again, not that any of you didn't know that already- just thought it was time to state the obvious :).

Alison got her real name in a much more organic way than she did her nickname. You see, my husband and I met five years ago because of an Alison - a song by Elvis Costello, now we are forever a family with our own little Alison.

When I was 21, I got my one and only tattoo - the line from the chorus of the song Alison, My Aim Is True, on my wrists. My husband and I were out with friends ( our friends were friends but we hadn't yet met) when someone asked me what my tattoo said. I was really impressed when he jumped in with the answer before I got the chance to respond. We spent the rest of the night discussing our shared love for Elvis Costello, Woody Allen, and sharing a few a lot of drinks. (Hey, it was St. Patrick's day weekend!!) it was the beginning to our little love story.

The night we met, 3-15-2008
(He's on the right I'm in the glasses on the left)

 

When it came time to pick a name for our daughter we had a list of names we liked and ended up choosing Alison not because of the connection but because we really like it. (Shane will tell you that, I  would say the connection helped influenced our choice).At any event, our Alison is totally an Alison and any other name we considered just wouldn't have sufficed.