the name will carry on

I am not quite sure exactly why I care about the continuation of the "family name". It really shouldn't matter since my Dad's parents kept their polish name, but changed the last name of their sons to be "American".

The oldest son had three daughters. Between the three daughters they have two adopted children, and four children (for now). But they all changed their names when they married, so the names are all different.

The middle son had two sons. Neither seemed to be in a hurry to marry. FInally, at the age of 40, the oldest son did get married. The other son was married shortly afterwards. The family chuckle is that he only got married because his long time girlfriend pushed him to do so after his brother was married. Although younger, they're both content with their ridgeback dogs and their Lakeshore condo.

The youngest son of my grandparents was my Dad. And there's only me and my sister. She's got my nephew, but they have the last name of my brother in law. I will not change my name if I get married, but I'm not in any hurry to get married, let alone have a child.

So, at the age of 42, my cousin announced that they were expecting. I was more concerned with his wife because she's 41, and considered a high risk pregnancy. But they got to a stage in life that they could support a child, and decided to go through with it. They found out on ultrasound that it was to be a boy.

Last night, my mom said that they were inducing my cousin (don't know why yet). But it was slowly progressing. None the less, I just got an email from my aunt and uncle saying that the baby was born late last night. He'll have the name Matthew Thomas. Don't know where Matthew comes from, but Thomas will be the name of his paternal grandparent.

I guess that Matthew is a popular boys name these days. Another one of my cousins named his son Matthew as well.