Sulo Mark Maliska was born February 24, 2005, and tomorrow (March 13) he will be baptized at Grace Lutheran Church. Sulo is Finnish, and is Tom's Grandfather's name. Yep, Mark is for me. I will become his Godfather. Mary made this as a baptismal gift. All of this completely blows me away.
This really is a life event. Being a Godparent is as big a responsibility as one would like to make it. The core committment is to ensure your Godchild id brought up in the Christian faith. There is more to it than that, but it's really up to the Godparent I think to build a relationship.
The thing that affects me the most is the invitation to join a family. Mary is Ethan's Godmother (so I'm one of his Godparents but not the sponsor) and is as invovled in his life as any of our family. Lucky kid, you think?
My Godfather was Uncle Jerry who lived in St Louis. I remember meeting him once. He used to send me the best Xmas gifts, including a plug-in popcorn popper when I was like 11 (major cool but it got really hot when you were using it), and a slot car set the next year. Of course he also sent me some monogrammed towels when I was around 8 or 9, which left me sort of ??? Fortunately it wasn't a sweater which in those days was an instant loser gift.
Sulo only weighs like 6 pounds and is a calm, together little guy. These days it is eat and sleep and poop. I'll post some pics tomorrow from our big day and the get together afterwards at the Maliskas.
Symphony #6, Second Movement: Scene By The Brook, Ludwig van Beethoven
