Immense sadness. Jake came home from work last night and told me that Mr. Lamb had died. It is not often that someone you meet once in your life has such a profound impact.
Mr. Lamb was a used car salesman in Macclenny, Florida. We met him when we were looking for a new car, just 2 months after we lost Ethan.
You see there were two problems with my old car. The first was that the air conditioning was broken and it was going to cost several thousand dollars to fix. And not having air conditioning going into summer in Florida with a newborn was not ideal. The second and biggest problem was that Ethan's heart had stopped beating in that car. I emotionally could not handle going back in that car (nor did I ever go back in my car after that day). So we were looking for a car.
For weeks we had looked online and around various dealerships. I was ready to give up. I hate car shopping and this process was exceptionally difficult. One of the dealerships we went to the salesman, Norville, gave us quite the run around. (The name especially stuck because it is the original name of Shaggy from Scooby Doo and a long standing joke with us.) After an hour he had showed us several vehicles that we had no interest in and didn't meet our qualifications. He then admitted that he didn't have anything we were looking for.
Then Jake came across this dealership online just outside of Jacksonville that had just what we were looking for. Jake called and Mr. Lamb said they indeed still had it on the lot. We drove over there in Jake's car and Jake's parents drove my car. When we got there he took us right to the vehicle, gave us the keys and told us to take it for a drive. We liked it. It was just what we were looking for. On the way back to the dealership, Jake and I discussed what we needed for a price and what we could afford to take for trade in. We knew with the air conditioning not working that we were going to take a hit, but we also could not afford to take too much of one.
When we got back, we told him we were interested and wanted to trade in my old car. He went out and looked at it and brought us into his office to discuss numbers. While calculating numbers he casually asks Jake's parents if Grant was their first grandson. Immediately the air in the room changed as one of them choked out our story. He pushed himself back from the desk and with tears in his eyes gave us his condolences, telling us he was both a father and grandfather. When he finally went back to the "numbers", he gave us an offer that we couldn't believe. We didn't know what to say or how to counter offer. Jake's dad looked at the offer and said "if the car is what you are looking for, you should take the deal". And so we did.
Mr. Lamb then had to call his wife to come from home to do the paperwork. She arrived in a few minutes with her granddaughters in tow. While she drew up the contract her young granddaughters played with a basket of toys. Jake's parents and Mr. Lamb went out and cleaned out my old car, transferring everything to my "new" one. While we waited to sign, I prayed. "Please Lord give me a sign that this is a good deal. That we are not buying a "lemon", that will create more problems for us.". I looked down to see one of the kids playing with "Norville", Shaggy from Scooby Doo. I couldn't help but chuckle as I felt peace. We left the lot in about an hour in my new car.
Immensely grateful. Immensely sad at the loss of this incredible man. The man who entered our life at our darkest hour and taught us how much kindness still exists in the world. According to the online obituary, he was laid to rest on my 35th birthday. May he rest in peace.
