Previously on "Lost"

In times of uncertainty, people naturally return to intuition, inspiration, superstition and other forms of out-of-control knowledge that match their experience of travelling in terra incognita.

Apparently with the conception of triplets, Luciana and I crossed that boundary into unexplored territory several months ago, and the people around us began to behave (at times) like characters from the TV series "Lost."

My favorite guy (right) is John Locke, eponymously linked to the tabula rasa epistemologist of the late 1600s & early 1700. The Lost Locke is a paralyzed Fool of Life who finds his powers restored when he crashlands on The Island. He becomes a visionary who follows dreams and intuitions, and when necessary he stabs people in the back to get his tribe moving in the right direction.

No one in our sphere has taken on Locke-ean proportions, but people have been known to act rather strangely. Yesterday Luciana told me she had a long visit from a couple of cow0rkers -- and thanks for the visit. Interestingly, one of the workers urged Luciana to name one of the babies -- after her! She wants us to name a baby after her! Luciana was a bit confused. She asked me, "Is this an American thing?"
"No, sweetheart," I told her. "This is a strange thing."
But naming is a strange thing anyway. I awoke two weeks ago from a pretty sound sleep with no trace of dreams around my head but just a simple thing in it: a name: Evelyn. I don't know where Evelyn came from. My only associations are:

• Evelyn Waugh - a good writer but not one of my favorites.
• A movie named "Evelyn" which I never saw, but which treats the story of a man trying to get his children back from the government (I think) starring Pierce Brosnan.

Okay...

But the name Evelyn hung around in my head. Within a couple of days we were hearing about Baby B - very tiny, not growing, but more active and vital than the other two. And I "knew" her name was Evelyn. Every time I thought (think) of her as Evelyn I start to tear up, and sometimes I just start to cry.

Who am I to argue with that? So I named her Evelyn, first privately, and then with Luciana. And it seems this is her name.

Luciana told her mother that we had named Baby B Evelyn, and she said that she had written that name down on paper but was afraid to tell us because she was sure we would reject it if she suggested it.

Okay... More of that "Lost" effect.

Meanwhile, there is a team of doctors who are monitoring Luciana's vital signs, blood test results and reports of discomfort, and monitoring the lives of the growing girls, and they are convening (today, I believe) to sort out their differences. There is a camp that holds out for 34 weeks, and a camp that is pushing for 32 weeks. They have to make up their minds.

In this age, the uncertainties are projected into a team of experts, who contain these feelings and try to work with them in a way that feels related to some kind of reality they can measure, assess, and influence.

Children of John Locke the philosopher. I'm grateful to them for playing Leader as we traipse through the jungle of this unprecedented experience.