Saturday, November 5, 2011

And I won't tell 'em your name

Were you named for anyone?

I was named for my great-aunt Ella Amanda Palmer. She was my mother's father's eldest sister.

Aunt Amanda was born in 1920 in southern Utah and grew up to serve an LDS mission, work various jobs (I think she even worked in a library for a while), and be one of the greatest examples of charity and service I've ever known. She never married or had children, but that's alright.

As the oldest child, my mom could have named me anything, but one day she felt that she should name me Amanda, before she even knew I was a girl, and that was the end of that. Sometimes I kind of wish my full name were Ella Amanda, but it's not and that's actually okay. I'm still honored to be Amanda at all.

While she was alive, she was called Aunt Amanda and I was Little Amanda. We had a special bond, and I'm so glad I got to know her before she died in 2000. In fact, because of our bond, I was asked to write her obituary and deliver her eulogy. It may have been a strange task for a 16-year-old, but it was the least I could do to honor her.

I'm not an Aunt Amanda yet, but I anticipate I will be one day. I just hope that I live up to the name!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone because it's late and I'm too tired to turn on my compy

1 comment:

Giggles said...

I love stories like that.