Maclaren was dedicated at Earle St on sunday and everything went well....no crying or spitting up on the pastor or anything...
I think today we will clear something up that a ton have people have asked about and im sure he will hear his whole life....where his name came from...
most people thinks upon first hearing it that it is a family name and scottish...also this would mean it would be spelled like McLaren or MacLaren or McClaren or something similar, although it is a good assumption that isnt the case this time....if it was he would look like this:
and as attractive as that man is in his MacLaren tartan kilt, i dont think its really for our son...
The next thing people ask is if its after the car....i like cars and i drive cars but i wouldnt call myself a car person. so for this reason Maclaren is not named after the car....it is actually McLaren, very close to our baby boys name but a tad off... i think they make these super expensive super cars and do some work with Mercedes...a little above our price range....see an example below:
while nice and orange its really not my style, so no my son is not named after it, but i can understand the confusion...
and the last thing we have heard only a few times...its goes something like this..."Oh Maclaren, like the stroller company." Ooo now we are getting somewhere...this is a hard one to explain...we did get his name from the company but he is not named after it...i will explain more about this below...for now we will talk about the stroller company. Maclaren is a buggy company out of England that makes some pretty cool stuff. Click Here for their website...We do have a Maclaren stroller in orange and it does have his name on it...
I mean how many kids have a sweet stroller with their name all over it? we are going to be in trouble if child #2 comes along....we will have to name he/she Bugaboo or Graco or something...
So while so so close, Maclaren isnt named for the stroller company....
Lets go to who he is really named after...
He is named after Claren Garrett... a dear dear friend of ours...see below for a photo of me beating him up...
notice the khaki dress sock, very classy Claren...
Claren was driving his family to Columbia on Mother's Day 2007 (wow its almost been two years) and was involved in a car crash. His father Rance, also a dear friend of ours, died instatly and Claren hung around for a few days before he decided to go hang out with the big man upstairs....His mom and brother where also in the car and although banged up, they came out physically okay...
most of the time when you hear of car crashes that involve teenagers you think of alcohol or drugs or being stupid behind the wheel...they were on their way to visit family on mothers day, crazy stuff...Dont get me wrong, Claren was not a good driver and not especially responsbile on the road but he was no worse than any other teenager either...
this accident had a profound aeffect on Lucy and i and everyone involved...we were very close to rance and claren as i know so many people were. Claren was one of the first people Lucy connected with at earle st...see photo from that summer below:
This is the same summer Johnny Bighead came from, i dont think a ton of people know or remember that...we can talk about that story if you guys want...
Lucy and I really wanted to honor claren and rance (they had the same name Clarence and each took a part) with our sons name but we had a really hard time thinking of soemthing. We didnt want to name him claren or rance but wanted to use the name somehow...maybe a middle name or something...but then we found it... We were in NYC for christmas and were in fao schwartz checking out strollers and we saw a display for Maclaren strollers...and it clicked....this would let Maclaren have his own identity and honor them at the same time...this was a good solution for us...it is a little unusual and sounds a little funny with our last name but it really works for us...
we loved claren because he was so beautifully human...he had tons of struggles and faults...if anyone tells you he was perfect please laugh at them...that is what made him great...he wasnt good at sports but tried hard, he wasnt the smartest kid in the class but he got through it...his compassion was great and had a love for people...even when we were painting stupid trees in ecuador he didnt complain all that much...see photo from ecuador below:
we had our difference sometimes and would get in little squabbles sometimes but it was in a brother kind of way and for the time i had with him i am grateful...and through all of the tragedy so many good things happened...they are too numerous to count but one of the biggest for me was getting to experience noah (his younger brother) and grow closer to him. I was able to experience something with noah this weekend that was on the last things i was able to do with Claren....nothing huge but fun for me all the same....see photos...
Prom Photos...it can be awkward for the old people to come take photos but i am glad they let us in for a second so we could take part...
as the weekend came to a close i realized how good it was and how blessed we are. blessed to have noah and pat in our lives and blessed that we got to know rance and claren for the short time we did. i still weep but not in sadness for them...i am sad that Maclaren will never know he namesake...Claren was so excited for us to have kids and be a part of their lives and they are going to miss out on that. i weep selfishly for myself and the times we arent going to have in the future. Claren and Rance are living it up now and knowing that comforts me more than you can know...Im not quite ready to join them but when that day comes its going to be on!
So as i wrap this up, i want to say Happy Dedication Maclaren! Happy Prom Noah! and Happy Birthday Claren (April 18th)! It was a big weekend for the men of our family!
So now you know where Maclaren got his name and a tiny bit about Claren...feel free to add your own bit or ask any questions....I am going to leave you with a few more photos...
Claren, see you soon my friend and know that there is a little boy that will be looking up to you and he wanted me to tell you thanks for his name...
that was amazing tommy im glad you wrote that it brought back some great memories