Ronan

When we were choosing names for our little guy, Ronan was on the list. To be honest, it wasn't my favorite at the time but since Steve loved it we kept it as an option. As I did more research into the name, I fell in love. "Ronan" in Irish means Little Seal. Legend tells of a seal who is warned never to stray too close to the land. When the seal is washed ashore by a wave, it becomes trapped in human form. The seal, or "Selkie" as they call it makes a life of it's own and has a family that it loves, but always has a longing to return to the sea. I think it's a beautiful story and when I thought about it, it reminded me a bit of my own story of moving to Ireland and that as much as I love it here and the beautiful little family we have created, there will always be a longing for "home" that I don't think will ever dissipate. Another reason I became attached to the name and it's meaning, though a bit less insightful than the first, when I was a kid my favorite stuffed animal was a white seal named Snowball. I don't remember a time I didn't have that seal with me, until one day I accidentally left it behind in a hotel in Chicago. I've never forgotten that stuffed animal though, and maybe there's a reason for that, because now I have my Little Seal back.