I want to introduce you to someone. See the guy with the white hair with his arms around the scraggly looking redhead? His name is Hamby and that's the first time I ever met him. He's my Grandpa, and he wanted me to name my son after him. The first time I met my Grandpa Hamby I was the nerdiest redhead going through an awkward tomboy phase. I was stuck somewhere between my Mom still dressing me and wanting to find my own style. I had just quit gymnastics because of my bad ankles and wore a hideously bulky watch on my arm that I'd found floating in the Atlantic Ocean (I'm sure the former owner is resting peacefully in a sharks belly). I hated my red hair because everyone had to touch it and tell me how awesome it was. "Bees land in it and I'm the only one in my family with red hair." - I'd tell them. And I told that exact thing to Grandpa Hamby upon meeting him. "Well, no you are not!" - He'd told me and I looked at him with astonishment. Could this man possibly know where my red hair came from? "Your Aunt Becky has red hair just like you!" I didn't believe him until I met her. And she does. She really does. That vacation was spent fishing, rescuing ducklings from snapping turtles, watching my Dad dodge alligators, and eating Hershey's chocolate bars with my Grandpa Hamby.
One of the many things that the Disney trip taught me is that my Grandpa Hamby is so full of love that he had enough to go around for all of us. I was included in this big, awesome family, part of which I hadn't known I had until a few years prior. When I saw my Grandpa Hamby again after that, it was my 16th birthday when my mom took me on a cruise to the Bahamas. At dinner that night, I'd turned as white as a sheet and my Grandma Mary Lou thought I might faint. I was fine though. The entire cruise was exhausting, and on the plane ride home, I spiked a 103 degree fever. I was quickly sequestered to a separate seat and given lots of blankets. Exiting the plane, I attempted to return the blankets. They kindly refused. Once at the doctors, we found out I'd been chugging along the whole vacation with a nasty case of Mono. Turns out that "white as a sheet" moment was the virus slamming into my immune system. There were a few trips in between the major ones that were just spent lounging around poolside and going to Hooters (the waitresses knew Grandpa Hamby by name and Grandma Mary Lou thought it was hysterical). They even came to see me when I graduated high school. (My Grandparents, not the Hooters waitresses.) That was probably the best surprise of that year. The next major trip came when I found out that Grandpa Hamby had lung cancer. I packed my little family up and with the help of some donations from my Aunt Becky, my Mom, and my Poppop, we took a flight down to the East coast of Florida. For anyone who knows my son, they know that he does not take to strangers immediately, even with my blessing. I have never seen my son just reach out to be held by someone until the day he met my Grandpa Hamby & Grandma Mary Lou. Instantly best friends, he & Poppop Hamby set about exploring and playing. He even woke up one morning and rather than crawl into bed with me, I awoke to find him lounging about with his Great Grandparents.
Today I lost the first person who ever told me that I wasn't "The Only Redhead". Hamby @MySmartTraveler Aug 4 |
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