Higher Calling

For me, naming our tribe has always been an adventure in parent hope.

In the past, my son and I had tribe names akin to snakes or fire. A boys' group. Although the higher part of me says, "Oh, it's their tribe, let them name the tribe", I always cringed a bit at being a "flaming" something or some type of reptile. So I was looking forward to my daughter's new tribe naming efforts. Would we be something magical, like The Princess Moonbeams? Pretty like Blossoming Butterflies? Traditional like Maidens? Fierce like Xena, Warrior Princess?
The three girls had made a list and I encouraged them to read the list and to "mix up" the words, to come up with new variants.

In a previous post, you may recall some of their excited and enthused choices. I'll repeat them plus add a few developments:

(Anything) princesses
Ocean
Dolphins
Silverfish (after a bit of blinking, I realized this patch could be rather pretty: like a shiny lobster)
Daffodils
Ladybug Bears (a bit like a chimera, I think, head of a ladybug, body of a bear)
Ladybugs
Angels
Butterflys
Angel Butterflys (or vice versa)


Our historian, Blue Rose, had us do a craft of rainsticks out of paper towel rolls and glue. (It's interesting because she has some Native American heritage, and I think this will prove a compelling addition to our tribe.)

Thus, at the night of the craft, came the wave (ahem) of water based names:

Rain makers
Angels
Raindrops
Rain flowers

After raising hands, marking names, and voting and voting, trying to be as fair as possible, we were between Ladybug Bears and Angel Butterflies. I made the mistake of asking for one more vote, because I wanted the three little girls to like the name, and my stubborn, precocious (that's the nice word) daughter wasn't participating as much I'd like. Well, in a whirl of passion, I read the names out loud again, and Rain Angels became the new favorite. In their giggly excitement, looking back, I think I could have said Bugeyed Spotted Bears with Wings, and they would have agreed.

Relieved (it's always the parents that stress the most over this: okay, I'll be honest, it's usually ME), I realized I wasn't a burning reptile, and became quite happy. Although, the image of a wet, possibly bedraggled, angel was a bit dampening (ahem), but I thought, who knows? If you live in the clouds, you're bound to get wet. What angel couldn't shake off a bit of water?