Guest Blogger: A Tale of Two Courtneys

When my daughter Laila was born this past August, we announced that her middle name would be Courtney. Collin and I decided it was the only logical middle name to bestow upon her, given how our love story began…

Back in 1988, both of our mothers had baby girls and chose to name them Courtney. Flash forward five years, and the girls meet at Grace Chapel’s nursery school and decide they will be friends because it’s cool to have the same name. Our sisters became close friends, which allowed for our families to grow close as well.  The two Courtneys would have play dates often, and our families would spend holidays together and go to the Vataha house to watch the Super Bowl every year.

an example of the fun that was had by these little girls

(and what a great big brother my husband is!)

Courtney V had two super cute older brothers and I took a special liking to the oldest one. Our sisters continued to stay friends over the years, which allowed me more and more opportunities to see Collin. Of course, he was way out of my league because he was four years older than me, but a girl can dream, right? My crush turned into somewhat of a joke between my family and friends…I had a picture of Collin in my wallet and my locker – and called him my future husband. As a joke one year, a friend put his picture on a pillowcase that I then slept with for a while. Sounds stalker-ish, I know, but it really wasn’t – he was so unattainable (I thought) that it was always just a silly game. 

who wouldn't want to date this stud muffin?

There’s a lot that happened in between, but ultimately you know the outcome…he offered to be my junior prom date, we became boyfriend/girlfriend, got engaged and just celebrated 6 years of marriage and welcomed a beautiful baby girl…

our precious laila bug - born August 13, 2010

 

All of that to say that we love our Courtneys so very much and our lives wouldn’t be what they are if those little girls hadn’t become friends.  We are so thankful for them and are so blessed to have them as our sisters. Laila is going to love spending time with Auntie CoCo and Auntie CoDi and someday they can tell her the story of how her parents got together and why she got her middle name.

You can see the rest of Laila's journey on my blog here.