I'm a very family oriented blogger and I know if you've been around here for any length of time you've seen me refer to my Grandpa as Honey. It's the only name I've ever known him by and sometimes I have to really think to tell people his actual name when introducing him. Allen calls him Honey, my Dad has even said some things along the lines of "Hey Honey, come look at such and such" while at a hardware store or other place (I'm sure the looks he got were hilarious) plus my Mom and aunts even refer to him more sometimes as Honey than they do Daddy. To me this is a fun story because it's genuine and a testament to the amazing family I was blessed to be born into.
And it all starts with my brother.
So in the photo above from 1984 you can see Honey in the top left, then Gramma (taken from us by lung cancer last year), my Dad, Uncle Tim, Aunt Kay, Uncle Jay (we lost him in '98) and cousin Chris (born in '74). Then bottom left you have Uncle Dorn, Aunt Linda, cousin Jessica (born in '84), my Mom, my brother (born in '81), me (born in '83), Aunt Suzi and cousin Amber (born in '84). There were many more cousins to come in the years after but this is the best photo I could find to show you our family back when Honey became Honey.
My older cousin Chris was the only grandchild for 7 years before my brother came along so he then, as well as today, refers to Honey as Granddad. He may slip up sometimes and refer to him as Honey but more often than not he's just Granddad to him.
However, after I was born (the 3rd grandchild), my parents moved in with Gramma & Honey for a while before they purchased a house on the next street over. During that time we were always with Gramma and Honey while our parents worked and my brother was starting to talk and repeat everything he heard.
One day Gramma said something in her sweet southern Gramma voice to Honey along the lines of "Honey such and such and so on . . . " My brother must have overheard her call him that so many times that it finally stuck with him and next thing you know he's calling him Honey too. Then I start talking and by this time he's Honey and that's just that.
I know most people probably choose what they want to be called when they become grandparents but from what I know, no one ever tried to steer us away from calling him Honey. I can actually picture how cute that is to hear a little kid call their grandpa Honey and honestly I can't wait for when my niece Alyson starts talking and we teach her to call him Honey too. It's bound to be the most precious thing ever so I get why they just went along with it.
Honey is such an amazing man and I wish everyone could hear the stories he's collected over the past 82 years. It's hard to put into words what he means to me and my entire family but he is loved beyond measure.
