Welcome To Our Family... And Now, Let Me Tell You About The "Greasy-Greazy" Line

A Proper Rite Of Passage. Thank You, Grandpa Bob!

Grandpa Bob escorts Hemo's Mom to her seat

--By Haimanti (Hemo)
I first met Grandpa Bob and Grandma Rita at Matt and Luke's graduation in 1999. I wasn't married to Matt at that time, but they were immediately Grandpa and Grandma. They come over for the ceremony and stayed in St Paul, Minnesota for a few days. That's when I first started to feel like part of the family. It was the most natural thing! Grandma and Grandpa took all of us out for dinner to TGI Fridays, and it was wonderful. We saw Grandma and Grandpa again in St Paul for Tim's graduation in 2002 and got to do it all over again! 

Grandpa dancing with Debo (Deb)

Grandpa Bob came out to Minnesota again for  our wedding in 2003. He came down with Suzy, Jay and Mary. His being there made the wedding seem like a proper rite of passage. He walked down the aisle with my mother. He was quite a hit when he danced with one of my bridesmaids (Deb)! Having the Wysongs over at our wedding along with Jeremy's family (Jeremy's brothers Jonathan, Noel and sister in law Maureen) and of course our parents and brothers was the high point of the weekend. We had a simple wedding, but their flying out to celebrate with us is what made it special and unforgettable. 

Matt & Hemo's wedding

We went out to visit Grandma and Grandpa over 4th of July in 2005. We stayed with them and got to meet with the rest of the Wysong family and our cousins, many of whom we're now connected with on Facebook. Grandpa picked us up from the train station. He told me stories about his international travels. He taught me how to identify regional accents across America. You can always identify someone who grew up in the south, just hear how they enunciate the word "greasy". Grandpa also really liked JRR Tolkein. They are definitely not children's books, he told me gravely. I tend to agree!

Matt told me that Grandpa Bob was the one who taught him and Luke to swim. He taught them when they visited over Christmas. They were in high school (correspondence school) and hadn't learnt to swim before that point. It was quite hard when they got started, but Grandpa sure did teach them! So thank you Grandpa Bob!

Wonderful memories and lots of love from Matt and Hemo.