What's in a name?

Have any of you wondered the reason behind your parents’ choice for your name? Well, I always had. And as a eight-year old, I would ask my dad why he named me Ivy. Why not Ashley, Belinda, Christine, Deborah, Elizabeth….why Ivy? Isn’t Ivy a plant? I remembered my dad telling me without hesitation, “Because Ivy is a climbing woody plant. And it’s evergreen, even in winter.”
“So? Isn’t it still a plant? It doesn’t have much meaning, right?” naïve little Ivy would probe.
“Your mum and I want you to be always scaling greater heights, reaching higher grounds. And to be always thriving despite the harshest conditions. To remain lush and green even in the cold, freezing winter temperatures when most flora and fauna wither. Isn’t that something?” Dad would explain to me patiently.
What a wonderful reason he provided! But I was too young to fully appreciate the profundity of his statements. However, I felt a lot better that it wasn’t given on a wimp or fancy and that my parents actually gave the matter some thought. When we encounter people whose names are like ‘Otah’ or ‘Alfredo’ and even ‘Beckham’, we have to give thanks to our Lord Almighty that our parents didn’t lose their marbles the day we were born and succumb to their food cravings or idol worship.
And did I live up to my name? Hm…it’s a bit too early to tell, isn’t it? Then again, I would have to admit that I am trying hard to do so. This entry is written at a time when I am not feeling very happy about myself/my current state of life. At a time when I feel disconnected, lost and unfocused. A time when I question my faith and decisions. A time when I look into my inner soul and seek to understand why I do the things I do. And believe me, it’s a pain to be such a reflective person. Self evaluation exposes a great deal of inadequacies. So, it’s more yellow than lush greenery for me, as of this moment.
Oh well, at least I can take comfort in that fact that I know I am not a terribly flawed person. Pretty good…(alright, modesty is not my virtue, confidence is). And heck, Ivy or Aphrodite, what’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. ;-)

Daily Trivia:
Hedera (English name ivy (plural, ivies) is a genus of about 10 species of climbing or ground-creeping evergreen woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to the Atlantic Islands, Europe, North Africa and across Asia east to Japan. On suitable surfaces (trees and rock faces), they are able to climb to at least 25-30 m above the basal ground level.
They have two leaf types, with palmately lobed juvenile leaves on creeping and climbing stems, and unlobed cordate adult leaves on fertile flowering stems exposed to full sun, usually high in the crowns of trees or the top of rock faces. The juvenile and adult shoots also differ, the former being slender, flexible and scrambling or climbing with small roots to affix the shoot to the substrate (rock or tree bark), the latter thicker, self-supporting, and without roots. The flowers are produced in late autumn (time of my birthday, how apt!), individually small, in 3-5 cm diameter umbels, greenish-yellow, and very rich in nectar (sweet! =P), an important late food source for bees and other insects; the fruit are small black berries ripening in late winter, and are an important food for many birds.The seeds are dispersed by birds eating the fruit.

Place to visit: NOPE! Today, it’s gonna be pictures of ivy. Muahaha….


Ivy plant-hedera


Berries!


Variegated ivy