A Trek to his Namesake

This past Memorial Day weekend was one that I had been looking forward to for almost a year. Not because we were gettting a three day weekend (which was nice by the way) but because Riley was going, for the first time, to the place for which he was named.


Our family has had a house in Grasonville, MD since before I was born. I have spent countless summer (and some spring and fall) days down there fishing, crabbing, playing wiffle ball, enjoying messy crab feasts and just hanging out with family. Some of my earliest and fondest memories occurred while down "at the Bay". To this day, one of the highlights of my year is arriving at the Bay house on Friday night ready to enjoy the first Bay weekend of the summer. Conversely, even as an adult, leaving the Bay for the last time that year brings about tremendous emotions. In short, this place means the world to me.


Over the past few years as a married man, this place has brought even more meaning to my life. It is here that I proposed to Missy (for the second and last time). And more recently, it is here that we first learned that we were going to be parents. These moments, in combination with the many memories that we have collected over the years at the Bay house brought us to the decision to name our son after the town where our house resides - Grason. We knew that we were not cool or artsy enough to pull off Grason as a first name so we decided to use it as his middle name. We may be the first parents in history to have the middle name set before the first name.


And so it was with great anticipation that we took Riley Grason down to our Bay house. True to form, he slept through most of the "firsts" of the weekend. First time inside the house - out. First time on the boat - gone. The one time he was not asleep was when we walked on the dock for the first time. The brutal sun pretty much prevented that. We feebly attempted to cover his face but because he squirms more than a morey eel, it was pretty much impossible. Though, Missy humored me by taking several dozen pictures of this momentous, if not short lived, event.


So now that Riley has his first trip to the Bay under his elastic diaper band, I look forward to many more for him. My hope is that he can experience beautiful and life changing memories at the Bay house the way his father and mother (and grandparents and great grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins) have. He already has the boat ride down. He has made a mess while eating - though his was formula, not crabmeat. And he has learned the important rule that it is ok to burp out loud. Why? Because it's the Bay! We will have to wait to experience fishing and wiffle ball. Maybe next weekend......