There have always been small echoes of Annie in Olive, although the two never met.
When I was pregnant, I even considered using the name Annie, but I just couldn't imagine saying no to a child named after my grandmother.
Could I really send little Annie to her room? Tell Annie she couldn't have dessert? Would I end up accidentally filling Annie's baby bottles with gin instead of breastmilk?
Honouring Annie by passing on her name would have been a lovely thing, but these scenarios were absolutely unfathomable to me. I had to abandon the idea.
And as it turns out, Olive ended up reminding me of my grandmother anyway.
She didn’t need the name.
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