What's in a name?

Apparently, a lot. The long standing dispute between my mother and I about the name of our baby is really getting to me, perhaps because I'm more tired today than I've ever been. She asked about the name, if we've decided on one, and I told my mom that we were pretty set on Alex, at which point she mentioned that when I mentioned that I would let her choose the name -- that didn't really matter if I already made up my mind. Then she got quiet and distant, and I felt like the worst son in the world. But what are you supposed to do about a name that you've always liked? One that we've even briefly talked about before we even thought about having a baby?

I dunno, my visits to Mom have gotten more and more fragile. Everytime I talk about when I should come see her, she tells me there's no need, and then when I don't see her for a while, she says that I don't really put forth the effort to see her after all. I'm getting really frustrated with her. Seems like she's just hell-bent on being completely pessimistic about everything that I can't do anything to please her. In fact, I talked about coming down next weekend to see her, for her birthday, which is on the 30th. And she said that it would be over by the time I came down to see her on the weekend, so I might as well forget about it.

And suddenly I just remember why I love my wife so much, because I feel as if the love I invest on her will be invested back into me, and it becomes a nuturing relationship. I don't know, maybe my mom thinks that she's invested a lot into me, but I'm not returning it. I'm not trying to be stubborn about the name, I'm really not, it's just that if we called the baby another name, all I would remember is that we had a name we liked and picked out, that we had to change. I'm really missing my wife a lot right now. I miss touching her in the middle of the night and hearing the words, "I love you." Whenever I accidently wake her, she always smiles at me and says, "Hi Sweetie," and I love that. I miss that so much. I wish the wedding was tomorrow and I could spend Sunday with her.

My mom thinks the name is common, but it's not common to me. It's special. Well, I don't know what to do. Just ride it out I guess.