Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Jason's Names

I didn't complete my thoughts about Jason's first day in heaven last night. I slept for three and a half hours, and woke up with a racing mind.
After dinner was over, the family sat around and caught up. Any of you who knew Jason knew that he was a visitor. He loved people. After they had sat around awhile, his Grandad stood, put on his dirty ball cap, and said, "Come on J-Boy, we've got work to do."
Twenty years ago Jason lost his best friend. He was thirteen when his Grandad died. I doubt if a day went by in those twenty years that he didn't think of Fred. He followed his Grandad into the profession of horse training, so you know he had questions that he knew Grandad had answers for.
When we named Jason, we really wanted a name that wouldn't be shortened. I was named Deborah but called Debbie. It wasn't really a problem, but I just wanted to name my children the name they would be called. It was obvious from the first that Jason was going to acquire multiple nicknames. The only person who consistently called him J-boy was his grandad. He became "Bud" to Tony and me; I also use this for Carson. That keeps me from "calling the roll" as my mom used to call it. His cousins Marty and Monty called him Huckle then shortened it to Huck--if you have ever seen a picture of him when he was a boy, you know his gaptoothed smile, freckles, and curly hair made him a "Huckleberry Finn" lookalike. That name has remained in our family. His college and current friends called him "Hump" or even worse "Humpy." Sunday night my dear friend Mary Willis called. Mary and Don lost their daughter Kimberly Rose when she was only fourteen years old. Mary warned me that many members of their family and several of Kim's friends had used either Kimberly or Rose to name their children. That is a great honor, but please use Jason or Craig. Don't call your kid "Humpy."

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