We Knew It Would Be Maple

If you’ve had a child, you know that “pregnancy” is a nice way of saying “get ready for about 50 life-changing decisions”. You’re seeking advice, praying, reading, and simply settling into the idea that life as you know it is about to change. In March of 2016 I had already been around this block once before. I was mother to a beautiful 1-year-old boy named Knox. And now I was pregnant for the second time, with a girl. 

In fact, I had just found out this baby was a girl. 

Possibly the biggest of these pregnancy-decisions, is what to name your child. Luckily for us, that decision had been made the month before. We had two names only. One name for a boy and one name for a girl. And now, we sat in the car with our little Knox and read the card: “girl”. We knew I was carrying Maple Rose.

Maple.

This name was nothing that I had heard growing up. I didn’t know anyone named Maple. But in January, just two months earlier, I had received a book. You see, I’m a kindergarten teacher. Each year, my class takes advantage of the greatest of elementary traditions: The Scholastic Book Order. Do you remember those from your childhood? Those beautiful years when reading is still fun and the “book box” was the most exciting thing your teacher could bring into your classroom? (And the only time when you can buy a book for $1, other than a garage sale!)

When I read the cover I immediately fell in love with the name, but when I read the story, I grew to love
the character.

Well, the dream-makers who work at Scholastic sometimes send free books with a teacher’s order. This month, they had sent me the book Maple by Lori Nichols.

When I read the cover I immediately fell in love with the name, but when I read the story, I grew to love the character. Maple was a curious, adventurous, innocent little girl who spent her days outside. She was the kind of girl who had a tree for a best friend, who believed acorns and rocks could talk, and who didn’t know the meaning of the word “bored”. I loved her and I hoped my husband would too.

That was an easy sell. For all the times we had had differences of opinions during the first five months of pregnancy, this time it was easy.

“What do you think of the name Maple?” I asked. 

“Hmmm…I like it,” he answered.

And then he read the book. And that was it.

We knew it was going to be Maple.

Not just because the name was beautiful, but because to us – because of Lori Nichols’ beautifully written story – the name Maple embodied what we wanted our little girl to be. We prayed and hoped that this name would help shape her identity. 

It’s fitting that this name was found in a children’s book. If you’ve ever seen the movie “You’ve Got Mail” (and if you haven’t, go watch it now), then you’ll remember Meg Ryan’s character, Kathleen Kelly. Kathleen owns a charming children’s bookstore called The Shop Around the Corner. 

During a conversation between her and Joe Fox (Tom Hanks’ character), Kathleen says, “When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.”

Then she pauses and says with a smile, “and now I’ve gotten carried away, haven’t I”.

She is so right. Books are so important because they do become part of a child’s identity. And it’s certainly easy to get carried away.

Welcome to Maples and Poppies. Let’s get carried away together.

Emily

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