Gareth

Meaning: Gentle

Origin: Welsh, Arthurian

Pronunciation: GAR-əth

Gender: Male

I saw this a few weeks ago in an article and I really came to like it. It looks cool and the meaning is nice. It’s a bit different than the more common Garret but not completely out there and crazy or anything.

On the Edge of the End…. An update since it’s been a while

So a lot of us were impacted in one way or another by the pandemic. It was a shock for sure. I had so many plans for 2020 as we all did most likely and in a moments time it all just came to a halt. When the whole world locked down me and my husband and countless others fortunate not to lose our essential working jobs kept working draining ourselves and in no way am I counting myself anywhere near the nurses and doctors on the front line as they were impacted far worse.

 

By May of 2020 I had to take a leave of absence from my job to work on my mental and physical wellbeing. It’s hard to work in a place when the world had seemed to have gone crazy and people all around you could be sick and you’re trying to keep shelves packed and the carts you bring out are swamped by desperate people and you are caught in the melee. The greed and desperations running rampant drained me a lot so I took a small break.

 

By June of 2020 I was back to work but still feeling the strain of things. My husband Anthony got covid in November of 2020. Two days later I got it even though I tried to quarantine separate after we found out he had it but I got it anyway. We tried to do the right thing mask, sanitizer, wash hands ect but somehow it wasn’t enough and we had got it. At the highest my temperature reached 102.9 and it was just awful, but we pulled through. The aftereffects are just as crippling at times including the fear of crowds for me and I often just can’t concentrate or stay to doing the same thing for long periods of time and exhaustion as well. As well not taking care of my health by eating properly and exercising.

 

The desire to craft, blog, read or write just went away most likely from burn out and stress. We still hadn’t seen family except quick socially distanced stops for a few mins and they were rare and our Christian meetings up until early 2022 to protect everyone had been on Zoom. So March 2020 to April 2022 it was all done on zoom.

 

Then came the vaccine and it’s a personal choice and after some talk my husband and I got the vaccine in the end of April 2021 and it affected Anthony pretty bad and he wound up in the ER with 103 temp that was not budging. Finally, with that under control we got back to life. I think the vaccine was a good idea for our family I just wish Anthony hadn’t gotten so sick the first day. Then in 2021 the cat I rescued when he was a baby, Tommy, suddenly passed away from a heart attack at the age of 14. He was with my parents. 

 

Now here we are April of 2023, vaccinated and boosted, and roughly 3 years from the first lock down and I’ll say I really do hope things go back to normal soon, most have but not everything. For the first 2 years it was scary hearing of the new variants popping up and equally scary hearing of people that just have so much hate and anger that fills the news feeds more and more. You would think after a tough few years of reflection one would come out with a better attitude toward life and the people around you but it’s not. I deal with the nastiness on a daily basis at work and it had made me so sad and weak its hard at times, but I know a better future is ahead and we are just on the edge of the end. However, more was still to come…

 

                                                ***

 

That leads me to the saddest of updates and it’s taken 14 months to be able to really come on and say it. February 27^th, 2022 my dad, Leonard Fred Coker, died at the age of 86. He had dementia and other health problems for over 5 years but late 2021 and early 2022 he was getting progressively worse. He was falling more and going to the hospital more often because of the falls. After one of the falls he went on hospice care and was on hospice for 3 weeks before he passed away. I kept telling him he had get better but he couldn’t stand and didn’t want to eat or drink much. My mom Linda did a great job as his nurse and taking care of him 24/7 during those 3 weeks well more than just those 3 weeks but taking care of all his needs while he physically couldn’t. To protect the dignity of him and my mom I won’t go into details on the struggles those 3 weeks.  

 

The Saturday before he passed my mom called and said we needed to get over there he was getting worse. I had that day off from work but Anthony didn’t but he didn’t want to miss seeing my dad if it was his last day so we called work and waited forever before we got ahold of the only manager on duty who didn’t work on our side of the store but after we explained she said take the day and she would email our manager and the day would be cleared, she was kind and accommodating, a rarity where we work. We got there and my sister, brother-in-law and nephew who had come down a few days before were there to see my dad as well. We spent the day and night there with him. When Anthony leaned over to talk with my dad, my dad held his hand up to Anthony’s face and we knew he remembered us. That day there were times like in the last weeks that he seemed somewhat normal like during the super bowl and playing with a squeezy ball and pop it we bought him to fidget with but he was getting weaker. That night we told my dad we knew he was tired and if he needed to go, we understood, and we’d see him again.

 

I thought I would be ok writing this but its so much harder than I thought it would be.

 

Sunday the 27^th arrived and we came over. The day was normal enough. We were watching my dad’s favorite channel, the weather channel, I laugh thinking about it, he loved that channel. We all sat around talking about anything including the shows on the weather channel. We each checked on him through out and talked to him. I didn’t think it would be that day. I silently prayed I wasn’t the one to find him but I stood up that day around 4 and I walked over and his chest wasn’t moving. I stood there scared to say anything. I looked to my sister who sat on the couch, and I whispered I don’t think he was breathing but I wanted to be sure before we told mom who was sitting on a bar stool in the kitchen. However, mom heard me and came over along with my sister and it was, he was gone.

 

I’m sorry I can’t finish the update, it hurts too much.

 

I love him so much and I miss him even when people don’t know and they think I don’t morn like them, I do.

 

Its taken years to write this update even the last part. I start crying and I can’t see to finish. There is more but I can’t.

 

Thank you for reading this and I hope that your well and I hope anyone that’s lost someone knows Jehovah God has given a beautiful promise to see them again and I know ill see my dad again.

Achilles

Meaning: (Pain, Greek legend character from Homer's 'Iliad,' killed by an arrow to the heel. ) 

Origin:(Greek) 

Pronunciation: (a-KILL-eez) 

Gender: Male 

I am quite surprised I haven't added this name before. Its definitely an oldy but a goody. Its not a name you probably would hear often anymore but would be a good ones used in wide variety of settings and genres. It would be fun to see it cause you wouldn't really think much of this being used apart from the Iliad but I oddly like the look and sound of this name. 

For Anyone Interested in Minecraft

 Hi All in the blog-o-sphere, I promise to post some new character names soon, I've been on too long of a hiatus and I miss blogging very much. I am here though to tell everyone about a new blog that was set up by my husband, his first experience with blogging. 

It is easy to follow tutorials about making custom blocks, items and entities in Minecraft and how others can make them as well. He has 2 posts up so far with several more to come in the coming weeks. So if you are interested in custom items for Minecraft and or just wanna pop over and see what it's all about here is his blog name and address:

Custom Minecraft Creations with Lunarain

https://customminecraftcreations.blogspot.com/

Edit 04/23/2023:

So a few weeks ago my husband Anthony created a YouTube Channel for his Let's Play Minecraft and has been putting up videos every other day. If anyone is interested I'll put a link here to his channel, he has regular videos, shorts and tutorials so far! He is Ivyman1992. 

Ivyman1992 - YouTube

Indigo

Meaning: (Blue Dye, Blue Dye from India)

Origin: (Greek, English, English Nature Name)

Pronunciation: (in-dih-goh, in-di-goh)

Gender: (Uni-Sex)

I have a novel idea for a few years now that has a main character named Indigo and when I was thinking of a name to add I realized I haven’t added Indigo and I wondered why because it is such a cool name. It has a nature based meaning and honestly the color itself is a beautiful blue purple so it would be a cool name if associated with a character based on a physical attribute like indigo colored eyes or hair or something, not to say that a name has to be based on a physical attribute but it could. A fun thing would be to pair it with other color/plant names like Periwinkle *see on list of posts*, Lilac *see on list of posts*, Lavender *see on list of posts*, Rose ect. All in all I like this name and can’t wait to bring my edgy girl Indigo to the page, she’s going to be a fun one, lol!

Laureline

Meaning: (Laurel, Noble)

Origin: (Germanic, Latin, French)

Pronunciation: (Lor-uh-leen, Lor-ah-lina)

Gender: (Female)

I was watching a movie a few months back called Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, from 2017, which the movie is based on the comics which I don’t have much knowledge of but I do have to say that I really loved the main girls name Laureline. It sounds adorable and fresh and so cute! I honestly would love to use this name in a novel. It seems to look and sound old fashioned yet on the flip sounds modern at times so all around I love it.

Bianco

Meaning- (White, Bright, Shining, Beautiful)

Origin- (Italian, Old High German)

Pronunciation- (bee-ANG-ko, bee-AHNK-oh)

Gender- (Male, Uni-Sex)

Here is a seemingly male version of the name Bianca *see on list of names* which is an alternative to Blanche *see on list of names* so all would do well male and female on a character. I really think Bianco is kind of a rugged name with nice meanings and a nice older history. All in all I really do like this name and would love to see it used.