Ben Robinson

All About Ben

By Ben Robinson

The family was in disarray this weekend. We were excited, and downright nervous, about a special visitor we were expecting. But finally Sunday around noon, Karson Brick Hamilton came into this world.

Karson is the son of my nephew Kevin. They wanted to keep up the (Hamilton) family tradition of having father and son have the same initials. That way things like monogrammed shirts can be handed down from father to son.

That’s one tradition we never have had on the Robinson side of the family. My father’s name is simply the initials B.F. The story is that when he was born, a school teacher who had taught several of his brothers and sisters wanted the new Robinson baby to be named Benjamin Franklin, but his oldest brother J.B., who was in the army, wanted his new little brother named Buck Foster. My grandmother compromised and name him B.F.

Years later, when he and my mother had their first son, he chose to name the boy after his father, who had passed away when my father was in the ninth grade, and use the name Arthur. He also chose to name him after a man who had helped him through the emotional time after losing his father, a man who he called Uncle Tom Lark. I have not found out how Tom Lark was kin to us — my guess is he was not — but the man helped my father so much that he wanted to honor him by naming his son after him. So Thomas Arthur Robinson is my older brother.

My parents chose to name their second son — and fourth child — after my father, kind of. I was named Benjamin Franklin, which is good because with a name like Buck Foster, I would have to open up a used car dealership.

Kevin’s middle name is Bradley, and he has an uncle on his father’s side named Brick. The mother of the baby chose the first name, Karson.

I’m glad they have that strange family tradition, because otherwise the baby might have been named Carson, and people would have thought he was named after the late host of the Tonight Show (although I hope to buy as many Johnny Carson tapes as I can to help Karson develop a sense of humor). Plus, if they were naming children after popular comedians, I might end up someday with a great nephew named Seinfield Hamilton.

Either way, Sunday afternoon I went with my mother to the hospital to get our first glimpse of Karson Brick Hamilton. Kevin was glad the drama of childbirth was over. I think it took more out of him perhaps than it did Kristen, but others have assured me that could not be the case.

The pressure is on Kevin now to take care of both baby and mother, so they can enjoy a happy life. But I have to accept some of the pressure myself.

I do not want Karson to grow up knowing me as his “fat, unemployed uncle.” I’ve been fighting the “fat” part for more than 25 years and I do not seem to be winning. If I’m not careful, he will think the phrase “family circle” refers to the shadow I create that the family uses for shade on hot days. We will try to work on that.

The unemployed part, we are hoping to take care of within a few weeks.

Hopefully soon I will be working several part-time jobs that add up to more salary than my previous employer paid, not that that is a large sum. I want to have skills to show off to my great nephews (I already have two, thanks to my niece Rebecca).

So welcome to this world, Karson Brick. My goal is to do whatever I can to make your life, and the lives of your cousins Austin and Nicholous, go as well as possible.