How could I have forgotten PA?

McCanless and Mary Clare have one more grandparent, their only great grandfather, PA! I assume that I only failed to mention his name in their grandparent line up simply because he is MY grandparent. I still see Pa as my Pa. I have yet to pass him down to my children. Pa is that grandparent that makes you feel as though you will never grow up, nor need to grow up. Pa is that one grandparent that you know will always get you out of trouble; the one that will always have a bit of extra spending money for you, and always tell you that you are his favorite. Most of you that knew me growing up, most definitely knew Pa. He was, and still is such an important part of our lives. Kacy, Kate, Alston and I are his only grandchildren and it certainly shows, as he has spoiled each of us rotten and continues to do so, even though all of us are 21+.

Even with his sometimes foul mouth and Ashland accent that can make you question is intellect and morality, Pa is a very smart man. He finished Newberry College in three years, (back when they had classes on Saturday) to come home to manage his family farm. He also opened a very successful convenience store in Ashland. Judge Woodham is also lead magistrate for Lee County. (This is what helps with the “gets you out of trouble” part!) He reads his Bible every night and is at his church whenever the doors are open. He fusses like crazy about my grandmother and “her ways” but we all know how much he misses her and how she was the love of his life.

He loves Merle Haggard and George Jones, and sings out loud in the shower. He hates old people. He can shag like a pro and loves to fish off the pier in Garden City Beach. He used to pay us to scratch his head, and he would always take us with him to the farm to groom his gamecocks. He taught us how to play video poker, not to leave home without money, that family is more important and anything, how to trust, and how to drink liquor. (He also owned a liquor store and made us “taste” it when we were young so we would know “how to drink.”)

He adores “Shoe Gal.” (The name he so poignantly nick-named McCanless when she was a toddler because of her fondness of shoes.) He tells me that she is the spitting image of Kate and although he laughs and says that he can’t handle another Kate, I secretly think he loves having a reminder of a younger Kate and all of her quirky, attitude stricken “ways!” He loves complaining about how we were (and still are) and McCanless loves listening to his stories.

Pa and Mary Clare have a connection. He has always had a certain bond with her that none of us fully understood until we realized exactly why. Mary Clare has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, sometimes refered to as “Blue Baby Syndrome.” Thankfully, we had her in a time where this diagnosis didn’t mean that there was no hope. In years past, having a baby with a severe heart defect meant imminent death. These babies were born blue due to the blood flow from their defect, and thus were called blue babies. Pa’s second son, Alston Wesley Woodham, III, was born a blue baby on Halloween Day in 1964, a time of little hope for blue babies. Pa allowed the doctors to take his newborn son’s tiny heart for research so that one day there could be hope. Hope for babies like his great granddaughter, Mary Clare.

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