What's in a name?
The question I always get is "where did you get the name Mylah?"
How do I begin to explain? Will the person who asked the question get it? Will they really understand?
So I just tell the story...
Some people know that I love music. Additionally, I love to sing. If I could turn back the hands of time I would have started to pursue singing and perfecting my craft at an early age. Life has a way of not going the way we picture it.
MTV had a reality show series called Making the Band & season 3 aired around the year 2000. Puff Daddy/Puff/Diddy sought out talent around the country and wanted to create this female supergroup who would take the industry by storm. Singing?? Oh I was all in. I indulged in the fact that Diddy would be making someone's dream come true. Every week I made it my business to make sure I was over Juwan's house (we were dating and our house didn't have cable tv) to catch the series.
The determination, tears, excitement, and disappointment; I watched it all. I clearly remember a few of the contestants, but 2 really stuck out to me. Andrea, who was small in stature but her voice so powerful. I knew she would eventually "Make the Band" & a girl named Mylah. Mylah was a soulful singing, quiet, no drama creating black girl whose name I fell in LOVE with. I remember saying "if I ever have a daughter, I'm gonna name her Mylah". Mylah's voice was so smooth, she was different than the other girls. She seemed grounded and humble. Each time she & Andrea sang I literally got goosebumps. I also remember wishing I had the courage and voice they had to go on a show to sing & dance for the one of the most important people in the music industry. I rooted for Andrea & Mylah and hoped that the 2 of them would eventually have their dreams come true. Sadly, Mylah didn't make the band but Andrea did. What a mistake Diddy made I thought. The career of the band created on this show was unfortunately short and both artists began to fade from my radar.
Fast forward to 2011. Once Juwan and I began to discuss starting a family, I did what I'd always done since I was younger. I wrote down the names that I wanted to give my children. A boy we agreed Juwan would pick the 1st name and he would have my dad's name as the middle name. A girl I would pick. I knew "Mylah" would be our daughters first name, but and she would have my mother's name for her middle name.
Like I said before I always knew I would have a girl. Once Mylah's gender was confirmed I was elated that I would get to use the name that I'd been thinking about for the last 11 years even though it was a possibility that she would pass away. I would say her name to myself sometimes just to get acquainted with saying it.
Then I began to wonder about Mylah. The other Mylah. The girl from the tv show. What ever happened to her? I began to search the internet and I came upon her Youtube Channel and her website. I was happy to see that she was still pursuing her music. Still working towards her dream! I listened to some of the songs she'd posted on YouTube and there they were... those goosebumps again. Her voice still the same. Still full of soul & power. Her pitch perfect, her range astounding. I followed her on YouTube & Twitter.
One day while I was social networking I got this bright idea to contact her. I'd been following her on Twitter and I wanted to see if the woman I was naming my child after was really as cool and down to earth as I thought or was it all for tv? What was I gonna do if she wasn't so welcoming? I didn't really have any other names picked out. Thankfully my assumptions about her were correct. We had 140 character conversations on Twitter (LOL). I told her about my pregnancy, about naming Mylah after her and about the diagnosis. She shared some information with me about herself. She was also very comforting and supportive. I knew then that the name Mylah was a good choice. Through my pregnancy we continued our interaction and to this day she is still as down to earth and caring as the 1st time we spoke. Her family continues to pray for Mylah and they've commented on the blog a few times. From their comments I can see where Mylah gets her sweet personality from.
Mylah does continue to sing. In fact today she will release her 1st single as a solo artist and I have no doubt that she will not disappoint!
I'm asking all of my readers to please support her! Go to her website and get the single EVER, follow her on Twitter , Like her page on Facebook. I know it will mean a lot to her and it will mean more to me!
How do I begin to explain? Will the person who asked the question get it? Will they really understand?
So I just tell the story...
Some people know that I love music. Additionally, I love to sing. If I could turn back the hands of time I would have started to pursue singing and perfecting my craft at an early age. Life has a way of not going the way we picture it.
MTV had a reality show series called Making the Band & season 3 aired around the year 2000. Puff Daddy/Puff/Diddy sought out talent around the country and wanted to create this female supergroup who would take the industry by storm. Singing?? Oh I was all in. I indulged in the fact that Diddy would be making someone's dream come true. Every week I made it my business to make sure I was over Juwan's house (we were dating and our house didn't have cable tv) to catch the series.
The determination, tears, excitement, and disappointment; I watched it all. I clearly remember a few of the contestants, but 2 really stuck out to me. Andrea, who was small in stature but her voice so powerful. I knew she would eventually "Make the Band" & a girl named Mylah. Mylah was a soulful singing, quiet, no drama creating black girl whose name I fell in LOVE with. I remember saying "if I ever have a daughter, I'm gonna name her Mylah". Mylah's voice was so smooth, she was different than the other girls. She seemed grounded and humble. Each time she & Andrea sang I literally got goosebumps. I also remember wishing I had the courage and voice they had to go on a show to sing & dance for the one of the most important people in the music industry. I rooted for Andrea & Mylah and hoped that the 2 of them would eventually have their dreams come true. Sadly, Mylah didn't make the band but Andrea did. What a mistake Diddy made I thought. The career of the band created on this show was unfortunately short and both artists began to fade from my radar.
Fast forward to 2011. Once Juwan and I began to discuss starting a family, I did what I'd always done since I was younger. I wrote down the names that I wanted to give my children. A boy we agreed Juwan would pick the 1st name and he would have my dad's name as the middle name. A girl I would pick. I knew "Mylah" would be our daughters first name, but and she would have my mother's name for her middle name.
Like I said before I always knew I would have a girl. Once Mylah's gender was confirmed I was elated that I would get to use the name that I'd been thinking about for the last 11 years even though it was a possibility that she would pass away. I would say her name to myself sometimes just to get acquainted with saying it.
Then I began to wonder about Mylah. The other Mylah. The girl from the tv show. What ever happened to her? I began to search the internet and I came upon her Youtube Channel and her website. I was happy to see that she was still pursuing her music. Still working towards her dream! I listened to some of the songs she'd posted on YouTube and there they were... those goosebumps again. Her voice still the same. Still full of soul & power. Her pitch perfect, her range astounding. I followed her on YouTube & Twitter.
One day while I was social networking I got this bright idea to contact her. I'd been following her on Twitter and I wanted to see if the woman I was naming my child after was really as cool and down to earth as I thought or was it all for tv? What was I gonna do if she wasn't so welcoming? I didn't really have any other names picked out. Thankfully my assumptions about her were correct. We had 140 character conversations on Twitter (LOL). I told her about my pregnancy, about naming Mylah after her and about the diagnosis. She shared some information with me about herself. She was also very comforting and supportive. I knew then that the name Mylah was a good choice. Through my pregnancy we continued our interaction and to this day she is still as down to earth and caring as the 1st time we spoke. Her family continues to pray for Mylah and they've commented on the blog a few times. From their comments I can see where Mylah gets her sweet personality from.
Mylah does continue to sing. In fact today she will release her 1st single as a solo artist and I have no doubt that she will not disappoint!
I'm asking all of my readers to please support her! Go to her website and get the single EVER, follow her on Twitter , Like her page on Facebook. I know it will mean a lot to her and it will mean more to me!
Comments
Post a Comment