Aside from books and clothes, my wife and I have thus far tried pretty hard to stay in the realm of “educational” when buying our daughter Payton or our son Hunter toys. In my previous post I talked about a handful of books that were exchanged around our home as gifts at Christmas time. But there was another gift given this year that I feel deserves a mention — we named a star for Payton.
That’s right, Payton has an honest to god star named after her. Located in Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear constellation, her star’s name is Parum Lux Lucis of Payton. According to the online translator that I used, this means The Little Light of Payton in English. I am particularly proud of this gift because it’s something that will always be there for Payton, and will still be there after she’s long gone. It is a permanent mark of her upon the world. But as great of a gift as I feel it is, I have to admit that it wasn’t planned.
That’s right, in fact it was a complete accident. We were shopping at the grocery store when we spotted the little owl depicted above sitting on a shelf. Payton was being a bit fussy so I handed it to her to see if it would calm her down. She seemed to like the owl quite a bit. It wasn’t until later in the store, when Payton dropped the toy and I picked it up, that I noticed what was written on the tag.
Star Chart from Shining Stars.com
For fifteen dollars we got for Payton a stuffed animal, an account at ShiningStars.com where Payton could name her new toy (we named it Hooty Hoo for her) and look at her official star chart, and a chance to name a real star after her. The chart is a little bit cheesy, and I’ll admit I’d like to have a real certificate in hand. But then, we paid less than twenty bucks for the whole package. The International Star Registry offers several packages for anywhere between around fifty dollars and one hundred and forty dollars.
Now we want to get one for Hunter as well. I imagine we’ll name it Parum Lux Lucis of Hunter, but we’ll see. I wondered for a moment if it was too feminine of a gift to give to a boy, but I quickly dismissed the idea. It’s eternal, or as near to eternal as ephemeral beings such as ourselves can hope to come. It’s peace of mind, knowing that my children’s lives are recorded “forever” in existence.
I suppose this is just another coin in the till in regards to a trend toward vanity services. For those who like the idea of remembering someone forever but who also need something more tangible, something that they can hold and examine, there’s always carbon harvesting. I know, carbon what? Well, a company called Life Gem has figured out a way to harvest the carbon from a cremated loved one which can then be used for the literal creation of a diamond. The carbon harvested from your dearest departed is exposed to extremely high heat and pressure, transforming it into a diamond up to one carat in size.
Isn’t science wonderful? Lets hope that we have no need of their services any time soon. Well, I suppose I had better go get ready for work. Happy reading and have a great day!
JMK
