A Midsummer Night's Dream

Happy birthday to E, our sunny summer solstice boy.

Before E was born, S and I made a list of potential names. We compared each name's English and German pronunciations. S, for example, liked Leonhard (LEH-n-hardt), but I wasn't a fan of Leonard (LEN-rrd). We had settled on the name Daniel (DAHN-i-el/DaaN-yul) until the night before E's due date, when we realized whatever name we chose would be his forever. We revisited our list and returned the very first name we had written down: E, chosen for the Mendelssohn connection. In our frenzied state, we forgot that while the entire rest of the planet pronounces the name as E*, in the United States, it's E**. Oh well. It was so difficult for the adults at E's first daycare to pronounce his name that they dubbed him E-man, a nickname that has stuck to this day.

Our midsummer lad is proud to know his name derives from that of the Greek sun god, Helios. Indeed, there's a narrative connection between the names Helios and E***, as both traversed the heavens in flaming chariots.

This morning, E stuck Abbey Road into his CD player and soon started singing along: "I'd like to be [dooh-dooh-dooh] under the sea, in an octopus's garden in the shade." There are few things cuter than overhearing your nine-year-old getting down with the classics. Then he sang along with "Here Comes the Sun"--a good song for an E, that's for sure.