When we started discussing names for Parker we ran through a bunch. We tried to figure out if we could continue on the mnemonic device that we stumbled upon with our kids names, TACOS (if you go by what we call them) or JACOB (if you go by given names): Taylor, Andrew, Cameron, Olivia, Sawyer or Jared, Andrew, Cameron, Olivia, Benjamin. But there just wasn’t anything that sounded right.

We agreed early on that we liked Parker, and had settled on Mathew Parker. About a month ago, Adrienne came to me with a suggestion, earlier this year I lost my grandfather, and Adrienne suggested that we change the name we had chosen so that we could honor my grandfather. It wasn’t a hard decision. We hadn’t told my step-grandmother about the decision to change his name. I got this forward, written by my step-grandmother, to me by my mom today:

I was so moved to learn that Jared and Adrienne named their son Parker Forrest Ottley. Jared has always been so good about keeping in touch with his Grandpa. It means so much that he has honored his Grandpa in this way. Please tell him that I love him.

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