"That which we call a rose..."

"by any other name would smell as sweet."

This is a very famous quote from Romeo and Juliet.

It also makes me think of Luke. Of course, I love his name and think it suits him perfectly...I am his mother and I was one of the people that gave it to him! Recently, he has also developed a very special fondness of his name. In fact, if he could, every animal/pet we own would also have this very special name. I, however, do not believe that his name is perfectly suited for every bunny (oh yeah, I've never mentioned that Scott has now added bunnies to our "family" :) every new cat and any other pet that we may gain. Luke, however, seems to think that it does.

When Scott decided to get bunnies, he started with two. When Luke was asked what to name the bunnies, he replied "Big Lukies". Scott refused (I know can you believe it!) to name both bunnies "Lukie" and compromised allowing the buck to remain "Big Lukie." The female got named "Elsie" (which was a name that I loved that we had used for our kitten who died over the winter) :(
Scott then decided to pick up a smaller, easier to handle bunny (to be more of a pet for Luke) who was immediately named "Little Lukie" by, you guessed it, Luke!

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, yesterday, Luke & I discovered two (of the cutest little) kittens just off of our porch. One of our momma cats decided that it was time to bring them forward. They were quite friendly & we played with them quite awhile. My brain started working on the question of what to name them. Immediately, "Max" and "Sam" came to my mind because they could be either girl or boy names. Why is that important? (Here comes another back story~boy, I'm beginning to feel like my husband when he tells a story ;)

Last spring, our beloved cat, Sassy aka Sassafras aka Miss Sass, brought forth her couple of weeks old kitten. Luke loved it immediately. I checked, saw that it was a girl & we named her "Mabel" aka "Miss Mabes". Mabel became almost as beloved to Luke as Sassy, not quite as beloved, just almost as beloved. You get the idea, Mabel is important. We talk about her & the things she does a lot. Fast forward to this spring, we have noticed that two of our momma cats are expecting and are wondering about Mabel, but then just at a glance, it became quite apparent that she is a he. Well, we began making a few adjustments...instead of "Miss Mabes" it's "Mister Mabes" and instead of "she" we try to remember to say "he", but we are completely stuck with "Mabel" and a 3 1/2 year old who refers to this cat with every pronoun and every name because we got it wrong & kept it wrong for so long.

Anyway, back to the two kitties. "Max" and "Sam" would be perfect (I think) because they could both go either direction if we mess it up again. I'm fairly certain after today that one is a boy and one is a girl, so I asked Luke about naming the kitties. I asked, "What would you like to name these kitties? I think "Sam" and "Maxine" are cute!" He replies, "No! I want to call them 'Lukies'!"

I should have known that would be his answer...but I think I am going to push for Sam and Maxine. Only out of fear that I may have a little "TRUMP" wannabe on my hands and in my future~who'll want to see his name on EVERYTHING he touches! Yikes! :)