Miles' middle name

Names are a big deal to us. I posted here about the guidelines we considered when selecting our son's name.  The more I tell people his name, the more we use it, the more I know it's the perfect name for our little guy.

On to the middle name.  Trevor and I spend/spent lots of time talking about the character of our son.  What our dreams are for him, as far as who we want him to be.  We care less about his talents and abilities, and more about his demeanor.  We always focus on the result when we talk about what type of parenting decision we will make.  It kind of goes with the famous saying "begin with the end in mind".  We focus on qualities we want our son to possess.

Some of our top are:
strong sense of self
honesty
adventurous
loyal
respectful
witty
quick to listen
willing to help others
sacrificing


There are many more, but those are some of the traits we talk about consistently.  This summer, we went to a funeral of a high school friend. On the plane ride there, we both talked endlessly of this guy and the memories we had of him.  Neither one of us could recall a time where he wasn't gracious, funny, willing to be a good friend, fiercely loyal to his family, an encourager.  We talked about how he handled himself in all of the high school situations we saw him in. 

We were completely unaware at the time that a tiny baby boy was growing.  He couldn't have been more than a week old.  But for some reason it was said aloud that if we ever had a son, we would want him to live his life, as Treff lived his.  I feel thankful that both Trevor and I had the privilege of knowing Treff and we share a lot of the same memories of him.

When we found out Miles was a boy, we knew the type of man we wanted him to grow to be like, so we decided to give him the middle name Owen.  He will share it with one of the best guys we know. We hope Miles Owen grows up knowing the name we chose for him comes with big shoes to fill.