MIZPAH

This name is taken from the King James edition of the bible - Genesis 31:verse 49 and reads -"(May) the Lord watch between thee and me when we are absent one from another." In the story of Laban , Jacob's father in-law, and his dealings with Jacob, they meet and make a covenant. They each gather stones and make a 'pile' and they ate there together. Laban said, "This heap is a witness between me and thee this day." They called it 'mizpah' They swore to one another that they would not pass over the heap to do the other harm. This was the pact they made between them. And each went their own way. The story is much longer and more complicated than what I have told. You can read it for yourself.

Why I have chosen this story and the name "Mizpah" is a simple one. When my parents left England to settle on the Saskatchewan prairies of Mid-western Canada, we left behind two grandmothers and a host of Aunts, Uncles and Cousins and school friends. In those times we had only letters to communicate with each other. Telephone cables were set on the ocean floor and it was costly to telephone to England so that many letters came by ship - and the Air mail service. At the end of all her letters my maternal grandmother, Sarah Hebden, wrote MIZPAH - sending a wish and a prayer to her daughter and granddaughters that the good Lord would watch over us while we were 'absent one from another'. We use that same name at the end of communications when we write to members of our family, and close friends - whether by e-mail or letter, the pact is the same - "May the lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another."

Maybe you have family customs similar to this that has been passed down. Our grandmother Hebden has passed on long ago but when we write or receive a communication with 'Mizpah"
written at the end of it, we know it comes with much love and a blessing and it also can also trigger our memories of times past and people who remain dear to our hearts.