Interesting Moment inTime

I don't want to say that something about me and my family has anything to do with this weekend and the historical moment that is about to take place, but just so you know...

Daniel Max Sims was named after Daniel from the Bible and Max, my grandfather, both after their bravery...most of you know Daniel's story, but not Max's. Max was in the army national guard of Alabama and a green beret (if you know anything about what is what in army history, then you know green beret is hot stuff). Max was pretty high up when MLK Jr. started raising hell in Alabama (or AB as my dear friend Mark likes to call it). As a matter of fact, we thought we might see Max in Forrest Gump, when you see Tom Hanks imposed on the news footage of the african american students standing in the doorway of the University of Alabama. Among the many historical moments my grandfather was a part of, this was one that is most discussed. The governor of Alabama stood in the doorway refusing to let these students in, and the President ordered the national guard (cue my grandfather) to order the governor to stand aside. There was one man above my grandfather in this (and other significant) operations during these turbulent times. But my grandfather was the only one in charge who allowed his men to cover their nametags (because of fear of retribution on thier families for protecting MLK and his followers). Yet he refused to cover his. Yes, the name Max Milton screamed loud and proud in those turbulent times in Alabama. He was often the one chosen to interview on local and national newscasts, but cover his name, he did not.

When I got married, Alex thought it was partly a southern thing that I didn't want to change my name to Amanda Jeanette Sims as oppossed to Amanda Milton Sims (since he is Alexander James Sims and apparently the tradition in Texas is to drop your maiden name, he thought it would be cool if we had the same initials). but in reality, I wanted to cling to the one thing I could count on as Southern pride....and that being that Max Milton would not cover his name when he was doing what was good and right....even if it meant endagering his family.

So, you can see how one day right before I got pregnant with Daniel, I said, "Alex, I don't know if our next baby will be a boy or a girl but at some point we will have a boy and his name will be 'Daniel Max'. You see, I was suppossed to be a boy and my name was going to be Daniel Max after the bravery of Daniel of the Bible and Max of the Miltons. But my parents had 3 girls and I have all girl cousins and no one had claimed it yet, so there you go. Alex struggled with the fact that the name 'Max' was not a name in and of itself...it should be short for something like 'Maximillian'. But Max's name was Max, short for nothing. Lo and behold I soon became pregnant with Daniel Max. And I can't imagine anyone my sweet precious grandfather could be more proud of to be his namesake. And to top it all off, Daniel Max was baptized on MLK's birthday....and we didn't plan it that way. It doesn't get any better than that.

So, here is to Daniel's baptism anniversary! Sweet baby boy, I can't imagine anyone better or braver than you to take on your great grandfather's namesake...autism and all.

And just to be political for a moment, no I did not vote for Obama...simply for the reason that I can not vote for someone who is for abortion because I was told in the beginning that Daniel would not live and that i should abort. But now that the vote is over.......if someone dares to touch a hair on that man's head, I will hunt him down and kill him. Because if I have to have a pro-abortion president, I will move on and rejoice in the fact that my grandfather was brave and strong enough to not cover his nametag so that Obama could one day be president.

(And since I'm being so political, Mr. Obama, if you could be so kind as to turn an eye towards the Texas special education situation, I would be forever grateful...as would Max and Daniel Max....thanks)