What’s In A Name?

Ok, I've been meaning to write this one up ever since we got the Colts jersey.

If you know me, you know that I'm a fairly large football fan. I cheer for my Steelers (mainly because when I was 7, my brother had picked the team they were playing), and my Lions (because that's where I grew up…and yes, Barry Sanders was the best player ever). Beyond that, I've learned to cheer for certain players (or simply the underdog in some occasions), especially since the invention of Fantasy Football. I even talked my wife into joining a fantasy football league with our neighbor, Greg Wynn. I think she pretty much figured that it was either join the league or have nothing to talk about during football season. For those of you wondering, yes, I've made certain concessions as well, but we won't go into those at this time.

One of my all time favorite players is Peyton Manning. He had a very good year when we were pregnant with our little Peyton (see where this is going?). For those Bucs fans who remember, this was the year he brought his team back from sure defeat on a Monday night in absolutely incredible fashion.

My family has a tradition of the son's middle name being the first name of the father. Both my brother and I share the same middle name. My dad's middle name is his dad's first, and we continued that little tradition with Nathaniel Peter. Now then, we actually got to choose the day Nathaniel was born. It was going to be one day, then the doctor hadn't scheduled us for a room, so we got to delay it a day. This was fine by me as it was a different month, but the same day as mine. Makes it a ton easier if all you have to do is remember a month!

There was never much debate about Rachael's name. I think we both had it set in our minds even before we were pregnant with her. She's named after Anissa's grandma Rachael and my grandma Eve. She also shares the same day of the month as Nathaniel and I. By this time, I think my wife realized what a scatterbrain I can be and so she thought she'd come up with a way I'd never forget the kids' birthdays.

Anissa's pregnancy with Peyton was by far the hardest one. Maybe it was foreshadowing in this story that is our life, but Anissa was on bed rest for the last 2 months of the pregnancy. She was actually scheduled to have the same birthday as the rest of us, but in good ol' Mayhew fashion, she decided to do things her own way and come out a little early. Her birth was by far the most incredible thing I've ever been a part of. She apparently decided she wanted out and wanted out at that time, so the doctors weren't even there. There was a nurse, but she was running around trying to get everything ready for the doctors. So Anissa's best friend, Dawn, and I were the only ones there with Anissa when she said, "The baby's coming NOW!" and she threw herself back in the bed and Peyton shot out like a bullet! She flew out so fast that Dawn had to catch Peyton with her knees so she didn't hit the floor while I was catching Anissa. To this day, Dawn still likes to remind me that she was the first to hold Peyton.

During the pregnancy, Peyton was going to be an Isabelle Renee, Isabella Renee, Gabrielle Renee, or Gabriella Renee. We were locked in on Renee as the middle name, but "Peyton" was actually a very distant 5th. Once she was born and we held her, we decided that since she had a different birthday than the rest of us, she could at least have my initials (PRM). Before we did her birth certificate, I had the thought of, well, if my wife is actually considering letting me name her in part after a football player, how far will she let me go?

And so as I tend to do, I went off on a mental tangent. I started playing with names of my favorite players over the years.

Dan was one of my favorites, but I didn't think that'd fly.

Neither would Jerome.

Barry Renee just didn't quite have that ring to it.

Howie Renee would ensure she'd be a terror on the defensive line. Which is a great trait, just not necessarily for a girl.

Hines Renee would ensure she'd smile all the time and block like an anvil.

Terry Renee was probably the closest one I could even suggest, but by that time I realized I had gotten off on a rather rambling tangent, plus it didn't meet the whole initials requirement.

And so it was, that we decided to go with Peyton Renee. It just sounded right.

So, many years from now, when all of this is a distant memory, and I'm dancing with my beautiful daughter at her wedding, in the back of my mind, I'll remember that she was, in part, named after a 6'5", 230 pound, laser rocket-armed QB, but very nearly was named, Dan Jerome Barry Howie Hines Terry Peyton Renee Mayhew.

Thank you to all of you that are following our lives along all of these ups and downs. We truly can feel all of the love, support and most importantly prayers we've received from all of you. God is with us every step of the way. This has been an extremely rough week on our family and our extended family but as you can see by this post, we still have our sense of humor.

Love

Peter