A few years ago, I had a dream that the Nurse and the Artist had a baby, and it was a boy who had a very particular name. I dreamed the full name, first and middle. Several years later, when the Artist was pregnant with her second child, their first boy, they had several possible names picked out, including the one I had dreamed. They asked soon to be big sister Nora what her favorite was. She said the baby’s name was Jim, and she never wavered. Every time someone asked her about the baby sibling she was going to have, it was, “I’m having a brother, and his name’s Jim!” And so, Jim it is. In fact, his full name is the exact name I dreamed several years ago, before Nora was even here.
It could be that I was dreaming all those years ago about the Jim that would be born this year. Or it could be that the Nurse and the Artist, people wise enough to take both dreams and the pronouncements of children seriously, made a conscious decision to name their second child in just such a way. It could be that the idea of us is fully formed before we are born, and it could be that we create ourselves and are created, simultaneously and perpetually. I prefer to think it’s the latter, and if that is the case, then I have a sense of responsibility to those I love to participate in their self-creation. In the service of that, I have a few promises for you, Jim:
I promise to keep dreaming for you, to listen to the wisdom of those dreams, and to be there to listen when you want to tell someone about the dreams you have. I promise to ask great questions. I promise to tell you lots of excellent stories about your grandmother. I promise to help you find your own space and shape in the midst of your wonderful and raucous cousins and your playful and wise sister. I promise to remind your Dad about the roundabout and sometimes dangerous paths we took to becoming who we are the minute he starts saying anything that sounds like “Kids these days…” in your general direction.
North Node 
I too heard a dream story that came to me a year ago. It was one of a soul recently passed, releasing from our grieving, and need for connection, to be reincarnated. That after his short transition, the desire to experience again the rich smells of the earth, the warmth of touch and the sensation of taste was strong. But it appeared to be the desire to travel the human journey with the ones he loved that called to him, So the slight smell and the whisper behind my ear and the glimpses’ in the corner of my eye have lessened and eventually have vanished. Can sadness, emptiness, joy, and wonder exist all at once? What name would we give this feeling? How can it be contained with in a human experience? hump… very interesting… if true….
We made a list of names while pregnant with Nora. We did not know her sex and so prepared several names of both. Jim’s name was toward to top on the boys column. A few nights later, the author tells us that she dreamed the name. We wondered if she had been outside our kitchen window that night. She had not.
We figured or first child would be a boy since a dreaming was involved. She dreamt only four years early.
I think children are the fulfillment of a promise of continuance and love and faith. For I am always put back into the moment because of them, and reminded that love has no limit to its depths.
no 1 son gave no 2 son his name before birth. It worked well – they have strong connections. Beautiful + powerful post Kathryn – thank you.
I wonder who dreamed of what a great guardian you would be.
There is a comfort I find in the mystery of creation… lately I feel like I have so many questions, but do not know answers. I was talking with Neil about this recently, we came to the space of feeling and thinking that this is the space we prefer to be in, especially when it comes to the creation of those we love and hold closest in our hearts.
We have also found treasures along the way, such as Jim’s name, and those who speak it with such love.
How do Neil and I ever thank you enough, and those who love and support us, for your presence, promises and great love for our children?
I love you Aunt Kat.