So, although choosing Baby Newton’s name has been quite the process I had to write a post dedicated to the meaning behind the name Jameson, which is what we currently call Baby. Jon and I have both lost one of our grandfathers and coincidentally both of their names were James. One day when I was putting in family names to get suggestions for baby names I received “Jameson” after typing in James. I thought it was perfect that our baby boy be named after both of our grandfathers!
First, if you know me, you know that the MOST difficult time in my life was when I lost my Papaw James. He was, simply put, the most amazing man ever! Everyone called him Papaw, whether he was their Papaw or not! I grew up living about 100 yards behind my Papaw and Grandma Liz so needless to say I saw them almost every day. I spent many days helping Papaw in the garden, painting around the farm, shooting pigeons off his Martin bird boxes (yes, I know), riding in the tracker, going to Lucy’s café for a burger, and much more!!! As long as I can remember Papaw suffered from chronic bronchitis and emphysema due to smoking for 50 years and his time in the war. While I was still young it was manageable, but around the time I was finishing high school he started having a very difficult time. Papaw’s health continued to deteriorate and in the end he was suffering, not living. We lost him on August 20, 2008. He wasn’t suffering anymore though, so that was a blessing. The months and year ahead was very difficult for me. I had never lost someone close to me and I was 23 years old. I thank God for giving me such an amazing Grandfather and so many wonderful years with him! The day before Jon and I found out the gender of our baby I went and visited Papaw at the cemetery. I talked to him about the baby and told him I was leaving everything in his hands. I promised him that if we had a boy he would be his namesake. So, the next day, we found out we were having a BOY and I knew it was meant to be!
Second, Jon had an amazing Papaw named James as well! Jon was only in the 3rd grade when his Papaw passed so he has a hard time remembering a lot about him. Some of the things he remembers are that he went to his Papaw’s house every Sunday for lunch with the entire family. The grandkids would play softball, baseball, hide-and-seek, or tag in the back yard after lunch. He also remembers going to Owensboro LOT (emphasize A LOT) of milk and he said his Papaw always told him where milk came from every single time he saw Jon drinking milk (because he drank so much more than the other grandkids), even though he had told him a hundred times before! Jon says he won’t tell you where his Papaw said Chocolate Milk comes from, HAHA! Jon’s Papaw had lung cancer and fought a hard battle. He passed when Jon was in the 3rd grade and was just 9 years old. Although his time with his Papaw was short, he absolutely adored him and still talks about him frequently. We have both been so blessed to have wonderful grandfathers and hope that Baby Jameson realizes how special he is to be named after both of them!
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