A Worthy Name...

One of Ammon’s doctors asked me recently where we came up with his name, he’d never heard of it before. It was a name that was clearly different from something common like Summer or Brian, and after several visits with Ammon it’s source had sufficiently peaked his interest. Well, just like everything else it seems, there is a story there, a story hidden behind the name. In some experiences, such as this one, it was clearly inadequate to simply reference the source of the name without also sharing the ‘why’. Some of you that are new to Ammon’s life experiences might not know all the key miracles that started even before Ammon was born, and have continued with him through to today. Maybe in some other posts we should share a few of these, because in some regards they also help us to understand better the why behind several of Ammon’s life experiences.

I relayed the following background to the doctor asking about Ammon’s name. Ammon was born suddenly, and under extreme circumstances. That’s really the more pleasant way of saying that he almost died. And without the presence of miracles, and people willing to act upon those miracles, we wouldn’t have been blessed with Ammon for these six years now. Ammon prevailed through many difficult health challenges, and after a little over two months in the NICU, and almost double his birth weight of 2 pounds 10 ounces, we were able to bring him home, and we couldn’t have been happier. In the first week of Ammon’s life we felt and saw the strength, faith, and joy that Ammon created, both physically and spiritually, just by being near him. We didn’t have any strong or lasting feelings of grief or disappointment, even under the difficult circumstances Ammon was experiencing, just because we were so grateful to have him with us, and because Ammon’s strong spirit always pushed those feelings out. Since we were surprised by Ammon’s early birth, we were also unprepared with any potential names (we thought we had a good two months to still think about names). As we pondered on this more and more, it became clear to us that Ammon’s name would need to be representative of the strength and faith that he shared with us. It wasn’t so much finding a name or an individual that Ammon was worthy to be named after, but that the name or individual was representative and worthy of Ammon.

I told the doctor that Ammon was named after a man of unmatched strength and honor, a religious leader that lived a long-time ago, that was full of faith, service, and kindness, to such a degree that he became a loved leader that inspired thousands of hardened people to become the most charitable and faithful people of their time. Ammon’s namesake, in every way, embodied the strength and joy that we felt and saw in being near Ammon. The doctor remarked that it sounded like Ammon had been well named.

A couple of days later the same doctor was talking with Summer and told her that he had asked me about Ammon’s name and what I had responded. Based on my response, and having come to know our young son over the past few weeks, he apparently wanted to learn even more about Ammon’s namesake. So he did an internet search, ended up at lds.org, and proceeded to learn about the original Ammon from long ago and the influence that Ammon had on the people he served. He then remarked to Summer that based on what he had learned about the Ammon from long ago, and his strength, service, and kindness, it was clear to him how our Ammon received his name. We tend to agree. It truly is a worthy name for such an individual.