Namesake

My first name means "harvester."
My middle name means "one who sows."
Put them both together and you get "one who reaps what one sows."
I don't think my parents ever knew the meanings of the names. Both names are the middle names of my grandmothers and I was to be named after them. It was happenstance that I should be called what I am.

When I was younger and looked up the meaning of my names, I thought that I had been cursed. "One who reaps what one sows" sounds like a threat. It reminds me of "you made your own bed; now lie in it" or "what goes around, comes around." Was I doomed, then, to never "sow the seeds of discontent" or "sow my wild oats"?

I'm older now, perhaps wiser, perhaps not. The meaning of my name no longer fearful to me. I have learned that some of the best things in life to get are actually things that you give away [i.e., love, friendship, compassion, wisdom, et cetera]. Like the dandelion wishes of youth, you set them free into the world and hope that they will eventually take root in the minds and hearts of others, that they will germinate and blossom. And in so doing, I am able to savour those fruits or simply admire their beauty.