Hi Everyone,

Just thought I would like to share some information on an event that is coming up this Friday (4/20) in Washington DC.

Beyond being a miraculous and adventurous spirit, Missy was my cousin. Her loss has had a profound influence in my life. Wish she were here. Unfortunately, she’s not and we need to leave it up to the next generation to carry on her good works and memory.

That was why when our son, was born last March we wanted to do something to honor Missy’s memory. The English name we choose was Lucas (meaning bearer of light) and we decided to make his Hebrew name in honor of Missy.

After discussing the matter with Joyce we decided against using her Hebrew name, it translates as “queen” and we weren’t finding any names that started with M that appealed to us.

Joyce’s suggestion as to pick a phrase that reminded us of Missy and have it translated. We selected “Beautiful Traveler”.

To Kelli and I this served to remind us of Missy - a beautiful soul who was perpetually in motion, she seem to be always going some where, savoring the journey as much as the final destination.

We tried having this phrase translated and it did not work out as well as we planned, at first the problem was Hebrew is a gender specific language and “beautiful” was a feminine word. Finally after numerous consultations and rounds of translations we arrived at the phrase “Nosea yafe”.

We thought this was perfect until we heard from an Israeli this is also means “Drives Well” - which seemed in poor taste.

We then started moving to alternative name options, until my mother, Roberta, mentioned… Simcha Chiam. Simcha means Joy or Celebration and Chaim is the Hebrew word for life. Therefore the name means - Joy of Life or Celebration of Life. We couldn’t think of a better way to honor Missy than remembering her joy of life.

Our hope is that she will watch over our son and help him to seek and celebrate all the joy that life has to offer. In twenty years when he comes to us and tell us he is going on a road trip to follow his favorite band for the next 3 months.– I’ll know who to thank and who to pray to help guide him safely through the journey.

For those of you in the Washington DC area we invite you to join us for a Baby Naming ceremony. It will be at 7:30 at Temple Sinai, 3100 Military Road, NW, Washington DC

Hope to see you there. Party snacks to follow the service.

Blessings to you all.

David