My Mom woke me up pretty early this morning so as I could begin getting ready for the day to watch Michigan play. She took Leia out to play with the neighbors’ dog next door. As I sat in my wheelchair taking my vitamins, and trying to wake up, I absentmindedly scrolled through Facebook and came across a post that stated that Sean Connery died last night in his sleep at the age of 90.
This news took me aback for a couple of reasons. Let’s get the obvious reason out-of-the-way but I have had a crush on him since Darby O’Gill and the little People.
My crush was further strengthened with First Knight even though he was older then my high school self:
But, the reason I was so struck by this terrible news is that I always will remember that he is the person who my son is named after. It had to be about two or three days after he was born when each nurse on a new shift would come into my room and ask the same question. “Well, mom, do you have a name yet for your baby?” The truth was that I did NOT because I understood the magnitude of what I was expected to do.
I had a few names in mind but I was nervous to make a decision that would affect my baby for the rest of his life! I think it was the third day when the nurse came into my room and asked the same question. I remember her face. She was a shorter woman with glasses. She was a little bit chubby. When she asked me if my son had a name, I looked at her and asked her, “ Timothy or Sean?” Those two names where are the front runners.
I will never forget how she shook her hand and kind of looked into the distance and said, “Ooh! Sean Connery is so handsome!” she smiled when she said that and I made the decision right then and there. My son’s name was going to be Sean and his middle name is my Dad’s name, Ramon.
I would often tell Sean the story because I thought it was funny that he was named after an actor. I remember that when he was in fourth grade, he told his teacher the story. I was completely embarrassed but she told Sean that, “He IS so handsome!” The fact that she agreed with me made me a little less embarrassed.
I told Sean a few years ago about my 13-year-old melodramatic self crying and Kurt Cobain’s death. After I told him that, I told him that as an adult, the only people’s whose death I will cry at is Bono and Sean Connery. I was so stricken at reading this Facebook post that I did just that. I cried.
I’ve been watching his later work, Finding Forrester a lot lately and in this movie, there is something about his eyes or his forehead there reminds me of my Dad.
I shared the Facebook post and my Tía can also see the resemblance. Maybe that is part of the reason that I am crying so much. But with Sean’s birthday coming up, I can’t help but think about the nurse and what she said about Sean Connery being so handsome!