She Spoke So Kind and She Talked So Fair...

Dear Delilah,

I can hardly believe that today marks 1 year since I started this blog of letters to you. While I don't have as much time to devote to it as I did a year ago; writing to you about the memories we're making, the lessons we're learning, the fun we're having, the challenges we're overcoming, and the love we're sharing as you grow up remains a priority for me. The day I started this blog, I planned to write to you about how you came to be named Delilah, which is not so coincidentally also how this blog came to be named Fine and Fair.

I'm often asked if you are named after "that Delilah song". My default answer is "Yes, but probably not the one you're thinking of." You see, a few years back, a bunch of rascally teenagers band called the Plain White T's came out with a dreadfully catchy pop song called "Hey There Delilah". These days, when someone refers to "that Delilah song", that overplayed pop tune is usually the one they're referring to.

"That Delilah song" is one of many. When your father and I were discussing baby names, Queen's "Delilah" was the first song that came to his mind. Thank goodness Freddie Mercury had a cat named Delilah, or your daddy probably wouldn't have agreed to your name! When Grandma Lisa first heard of it, "Delilah" by Tom Jones started playing on repeat in her mind. While the Queen tune is awesome (so much so that it provided the soundtrack to a slideshow I made of photos from your first year), it's not "that Delilah song" that you were named for!

When I was a teenager, I went through a bit of a hippie phase. "A bit of" and "phase" are not entirely accurate; I'm still a bit of a hippie, truth be told. Anyway, as a wannabe hippie, The Grateful Dead was in heavy rotation in my music collection. The first time I heard the song Samson and Delilah, I absolutely fell in love with the name. Your name. Yes, at the ripe old age of 15, I declared that I would one day have a daughter, and that her name would be Delilah.

If it weren't for that song, I would probably be clueless about the bible story of Samson and Delilah. Most people think of the biblical Delilah as a bit of a bad girl. A harlot. A con artist. Well, being the optimist that I am, I prefer to think of her as resourceful. Strong. A woman of power in a world in which most women had none. Regardless of how one might judge her character, it is universally agreed upon that her beauty was captivating. I fully disclose my bias here, but your beauty, the beauty that shines through from inside of you, takes my breath away every day. I hope that your name will serve as a reminder to you that you are strong, you are powerful, and you are beautiful. I hope you will learn to use that strength, power, and beauty for the benefit of others, and not at their expense, as your biblical counterpart was led to do.

So what does that have to do with the name of this blog? That Grateful Dead song, still one of my favorites to this day, opens with the lyric "Well Delilah was a woman, she was fine and fair." And you, Dear Delilah, are most certainly fine and fair, just as much today as one year ago when this blog was born.

Love,

Mama





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