The Girl Named Ocean

When Mac was going through treatment, I was carrying my daughter. We didn’t know the sex yet, so I told Mac that I would name the child after his him by using his middle name Barrett. Then we found out it was a girl. All we were leaving the ultra sound my husband said the name Ocean. I said, “Not a chance. There is no way that I am going to introduce myself as “Hi, I’m Summer and this is my daughter Ocean. We live on Sunnyside.” (True story at the time). We aren’t The Brady Bunch. I couldn’t wait to find the perfect name. When we got back to the hospital and told Mac it was a girl and he heard my husband wanted “Ocean.” He LOVED it. Growing up on the beach in Malibu, he lived in the water and surfed. That’s actually a possibility of what triggered the Leukemia, but that’s another story in itself. Back to the name. Mac and my husband taunted me for months about naming her Ocean. Then Mac died, something we never expected or prepared for. In that moment our daughter clearly became Ocean Barrett. Initials OG, OBG…It’s almost like Mac did it on purpose. I get one daughter in life and didn’t get to choose even one name for her. It was clear Mac deserved the last laugh. Here she is now at prom and graduating high school. So many years have passed, but Mac was so right. She outgrew the nickname Tsunami and is nothing but the most perfect Ocean. I will forever look up at the sky and cringe every time I have to say, “Hi, I’m Summer and this is my daughter Ocean”…Thanks Mac. Please watch over our girl during her new journey .