Opus 100 - The Three Lissa's

As most of you are aware, Lissa is named after my younger sister Lissa (who's first name is also Elizabeth). When I was about 15 I decided that Lissa was the prettiest name and I wanted my first daughter to be named Lissa. I'm so glad I was finally able to do that!

The origins of the name Lissa is actually quite interesting. My sister Lissa likes to say that she named herself. The story goes something like this...

My mom's sixth, and final, pregnancy with John was quite difficult. There were quite a few complications and she just felt awful after John was finally born. She called her mom and asked her to come out and help (we were living in Arkansas). Grandma replied that she would love to come out, but she would not call "that child Lizzie!" (That's what we called Lissa at the time; she was about 15 months old). I can just hear Grandma saying that and it makes me laugh thinking about it. Anyway, my mom told Grandma that she could call Elizabeth whatever she wanted if she came out and helped. Grandma came out and stayed for about two and a half weeks. During that time she called Elizabeth by the name Lissa. Mom thought, okay that's fine, it's only a couple of weeks.

After Grandma left, Mom was trying to get Lissa's attention so she said "Lizzie, come here." Lissa didn't even turn. So Mom tried again, "Lizzie, come here." This time, Lissa turned and looked at her, but then went back to what she was doing. So Mom tried a third time, "Lizzie, come here." Lissa turned, looked at Mom and stated, "Lissa," as if to say, "My name is Lissa, not Lizzie!" So Lissa it was from then on.

Four years later, my Aunt Ara had her second daughter and also named her Elizabeth, calling her Lissa. Therefore, my Lissa is the third Elizabeth/Lissa in the family. As far as I know, they are the only three Elizabeth's who go by Lissa. It's common for Melissa or Alyssa to shorten their name to Lissa (or Lyssa), but not common for Elizabeth. I think it's awesome that Lissa has that connection with her Aunt and Cousin. If she can even be half as smart/awesome as those Lissa's, she'll be set for life! (Aunt Lissa is about to finish her masters and Cousin Lissa is heading off to London at the end of the month to start working on her masters there.)

While we were in Arizona we got the three Lissa's together for the first time: