My given name is Cynthia Hope. If you google the meaning of the name Cynthia, you’ll usually get something about “goddess of the moon” or something like that. I also found one definition that said “bringer of light”. I like that … I like to think that I bring light into people’s lives or at least that I try to. The name Hope doesn’t need much explanation. I love what it means and I’m happy to have it as my middle name. My husband (his name is Barry Norman Alexander Joseph) likes the word hope and how it’s meaning changes when you have faith. If I use the word ‘hope’ to say something like “I hope it’s sunny tomorrow,” what I’m really saying is “I have no assurance or guarantee but I’m wishing it would be sunny tomorrow.” As a Christian, if I say “My hope is in the Lord” that is assurance with a guarantee. Okay, enough preaching.
I grew up on the Great Hope Ranch and was named after the ranch. Now maybe being named after a piece of property wouldn’t thrill you, but I loved that place, loved being a farm kid (felt sorry for city kids), loved living in a coulee, loved having horses and pigs and chickens and cows (but hated the work that went along with them), loved the creek, loved the crocuses on the hill in the spring, loved knowing my directions because of the north gate, the west gate and the east gate (just had to figure out south), loved the barn (the tuck room, the Indian motorcycle stored behind the manger, the hay loft with the empty pigeon coop), loved the garage (used to be the old house with school desks upstairs and other treasures in nooks and crannies), loved the old school house, loved the storage buildings and the discarded treasures they held, loved the shop (with the big bellows and forge furnace). I could go on and on (and I just did) … I loved where I grew up so being named after it was an honour and a thrill.
So I love my name, right? Well, yes and no. I love my middle name. I don’t like being called Cynthia (too snooty) and don’t really like Cyndi either (sounds like a cheerleader from the 60’s). Cindy was a very popular name for poodles at one time, too. I don’t want to be called Cynthia, I’m not crazy about Cyndi/Cindy, I don’t want to change my name so I guess I’m hooped.
Now comes the real question … to tattoo or not to tattoo? Yes, my children, I am seriously considering this question. A friend of mine (whose middle name also happens to be Hope) had Fierce Hope tattooed on her forearm. Her first name means “fierce” … I love it. That’s what got me thinking about the meaning of my name.
Goddess of the moon Hope doesn’t have the same ring. My last name means “hamster” in Polish but Hamster Hope lacks the class I was kind of going for when/if I get a tattoo. Then I stumbled across “bringer of light” and I thought I could go for Light and Hope. I like the image of both of those words. I’m not completely committed to the idea of a tattoo but I think I know what I’ll get IF and WHEN I decide to go for it.
I wanted my blog to be Light and Hope but that’s already taken. Moonlight and Hope is a bit more ethereal, a bit more mystical, a bit more mysterious … and a bit more available.
So stick with me if you want, ignore me if that’s the way you lean. I don’t know how often I’ll blog (hopefully more than once … lighthope.blogspot.com blogged once in 2003 and never again … lightandhope.blogspot.com blogged once in 2006 and never again), I don’t know what I’ll blog about. There may be pictures once in a while, hopefully something to make you think, make you smile, make you cry (or at least make you feel) – but hopefully not all at once.
Peace! (because this really feels like a hippy dippy start to blogging)
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