Sylvia Maridale Wallace

Sylvia Maridale Wallace was born September 24, 2006 at 2:36 a.m.  She taught us patience, confidence, and courage through her birth.  She taught us how deeply we can love.  We chose her name because we loved the beauty of the name, “Sylvia.” We loved the Shakespearean poem (see below).  Maridale is a tribute to her grandmothers’ who we know will be a guide and a reflection for her throughout her life – Marilyn Ann Reynolds Brand, her maternal grandmother, and Dale Brackin Wallace, her paternal grandmother.

Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.

Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness.
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness,
And, being helped, inhabits there.

Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling:
To her let us garlands bring.

– William Shakespeare

Reese Eleanor Wallace

Reese Eleanor Wallace was born at home on March 29, 2009.  Reese was a VBAC baby, a bold baby, and a blessing to her family.  Her name is connected to Darcie’s surname Price which translates from Welsh as “son of Rhys.”  “Rhys” in Welsh means enthusiasm.  Eleanor Menger Reynolds was Darcie’s maternal grandmother who died January 13, 2007.  She was a loving, pragmatic, smart, and dedicated grandmother.  She was a strong and loyal woman and we wanted to share this name of such an admirable woman with with our daughter.

“Dreams” by Eleanor Menger Reynolds

Dream, my dear of lovely things:
Of stars and moon and sun;
Of home, and school, and bells that
ring —
And trees, and lakes, and picnic fun.
Dream of all the joys we’ve shared
together;
Dream of walks in clear and windy
weather.
Dream of our world–
The world of joy and peace–
The world before our land was hurled
Into a fight that does not cease.
Dream of us, our love and hope,
The things that see so far–
Things with which we cannot now
cope,
But will soon change from what they
are.