Six Months / Why "Hagen?"

photo by Barnibbe photography

Dear Hagen,

You're six months old, as of Wednesday. According to your doctor, you're in perfect health. According to me, you're the sweetest baby who ever lived. Maybe it's because Laney did such a good job of breaking us in as parents, but we're able to really relax and enjoy the time we spend with you. Minus this past week's sickness, you almost never fuss. You're happy to go along with whatever the family's doing. You. Are. A. Joy.

Speaking of your sister, she likes to hug you to within an inch of your life. The most common phrases heard in our house: "Stop squishing him!" and "You're cutting off his oxygen supply!" But every time I start to warn Laney to be more gentle with you, I notice that you're laughing your head off. Last week, you were in a bouncy chair suspended from four bungee-type cables at Grandma Sue's house. Laney decided it would be super fun to full you forward and let you snap back. I tried to tell her to take it easy, but she couldn't hear me over your giggling. She pulled you as far forward as those cords would stretch, and then let you go. You shot backwards and then ricocheted forward and knocked her on her behind. You laughed. I laughed. Laney hollered, "HAGEN HIT ME WITH HIS CHAIR!" You should know that your sister likes to play a little fast and loose with the facts.

__________

I've never taken the time here to explain why we named you Hagen, and this seems as good a time as any. You were named after my paternal great-great grandfather, Haagen.

L to R: My aunt Sandra, my grandfather Woodrow, and the original Haagen.

Haagen Lie (which later became "Lee") was the first of the Lees to come to this country, arriving around 1867.  Approximately 12,900 other Norwegians came that year, settling mostly in Minnesota and the Dakotas. He married Carrie Fjelstad - a nice Icelandic girl - in Minolta, MN and had five children. Your dad is especially fond of the fact that Haagen and Carrie both originally came from small towns north of the Arctic Circle. (The Arctic Circle: Like Montana, but more).

Around 1902, the State of Georgia had the idea to recruit hard-working, honest, principled Norwegians to begin farming operations in the state, and Haagen took them up on it. We're not sure when his wife Carrie passed away, and it's possible that Haagen came to Georgia alone with the five children. 

A small community of Norwegians sprung up in what is now Dooly County, GA.  The infernal heat was a little too much for their Viking blood, and I assume the gnat situation was the same back in the late 1800s as it is now. Most of the Scandinavians headed back north to eventually become known for wearing funny sweaters and making casseroles out of cod. Haagen, however, stayed. 

Haagen never cared much for farming; he was more of a tinkerer.  He moved into town (Vienna, GA) and began negotiations to get his own shop where he could do mechanical repairs for a living. In 1923, his daughter Onina - a single mother - became sick and passed away, leaving Haagen to raise my grandfather Woodrow, (a.k.a. "Red," because of his full head of red hair).  A man and a boy with foreign accents alone together in small-town Georgia at the start of World War II. Could not have been easy. 

Woodrow Lee, your great-grandfather

Haagen was described by the town's old timers as stern, but highly principled. Your grandfather Philip, who owns an antique mall in Vienna, Georgia, writes:

"I have seen a picture of Haagen standing in his shop. Above him is a hand-printed sign that read, "LOAFERS NOT WELCOME HERE." Coincidentally, I have a sign here that reads "IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO, PLEASE DON'T DO IT HERE."  

Woodrow met Mary Carr at a local restaurant, where she was a waitress. He always used to tell me that she "made his cup runneth over." When he was turned down for the draft because of his high blood pressure, he moved to Long Island where his welding experience was needed to build Liberty Ships for the war. Mary missed him, so she joined him in New York, and that's how my small-town grandparents ended up getting married at City Hall in Queens. They settled back in Vienna and had four children and about a dozen grandchildren.

Woodrow and Mary, before they were Mama Lee and Pop. 

If this were the King James version, we'd say Haagen begat Onina who begat Woodrow who begat Philip who begat Me who begat You. One miracle after another, because Haagen decided to get on that boat back in Norway.

When we were thinking of possible names for you, your dad loved the name Hagen as soon as he heard it. I liked the idea of naming you for an adventurous ancestor who single-handedly raised the grandfather I loved so much, but I wasn't entirely sold on the idea until the second you made your entrance into the world and I heard the nurse exclaim, "Look at that full head of red hair!" I thought it was a sign.  We dropped one of the "A"s in the name, because I didn't want you to have to listen to Haagen-Dazs ice cream jokes for the rest of your life. 

And here you are: the latest in a line of interesting characters. 

I never got to meet the original Haagen, but I love the new one with all my heart.

Love,

Mom

UPDATE: I just saw the comment your grandfather Philip left below. The picture he's referring to is HIS baby picture - the one that Mama Lee had hanging in her front room for years. The one where his head looks so darn big. Mama Lee used to ask my mother, back when Peg Peg was a newlywed, when she was going to have children. Peg Peg would say, "As soon as you take down that picture." Anyway, per his request, here you go: