Most of you know that Nate wore many hats and had a lot of jobs. However, did you know that he was a mascot one day?

Leslie’s brother, Ryan, and his wife, Carmen, became Ace Hardware owners in 2024. We went to visit them and help with their Grand Opening weekend for "Carroll’s ACE Hardware" in August of 2024. If you make it to Tega Cay, SC, you should stop by and say hello! They had a mascot costume that they wanted someone to put on and be a part of the grand opening festivities. The costume was/is a big happy dog appropriately named ACE. Who would walk around the store to wave to kids, get photos, and do the other things a big, costumed mascot would do? Who would volunteer to do such a thing? Enter Nate Baker!

Nate drove up from Columbia to do what Nate does - to bring a good mood, a smile and to help! Nate goes back into the office to change into the suit. You first put on the body - it goes on like one-piece PJs you remember as a kid (or maybe some of you still wear them today!?). The last thing he put on is the big, clumsy looking head. We have the video of Nate first putting on the head of the suit. He was laughing and smiling and his first comment when he got the head on? “Dude it’s like…I can’t even effin see!” He was laughing and we all laughed with him. (Videos with his voice are really special to Leslie and me. Hearing his voice and his humor as he blurts that out brings a smile to my face!) I think most people would have dreaded putting on the costume and walking around the store. They would have felt awkward or embarrassed. Not Nate. He was full of smiles and laughter and did it with his normal ‘enjoy the adventure’ attitude!

Off Nate goes walking through the store - waving and posing for photos - with kids and anyone else that wanted a photo op. He posed with me in front of the store for a photo. At one point, Nate even goes out by the main road the store is on and waves at the cars and trucks going by. He was pointing and waving them into the parking lot. He wasn’t wondering how quickly he could get out of the costume, he was having fun with it! I think he was trying to make it memorable for those around him. It was.

It was memorable Nate! Here I am writing about it and missing you. Even in that ACE mascot suit, your personality, smile and sense of adventure came through.

I want to have more adventures with you Nate. I miss those adventures so much. Until I see you again - I love you.  

As a mom of teenage boys, I have learned to pick your battles. One battle I chose not to fight was about hair! I knew when Grant and Nate needed haircuts (I truly believe they did as well) yet that was not for me to decide. To cut their hair was as if they would lose their superpowers so I often left it up to them to choose when they wanted to get haircuts. Until, that one day in December of Nate's 10th grade year, when I convinced him to go to a salon and get a "real haircut." Dan had always given the boys haircuts and quite frankly did a pretty darn good job. But as moms like to help, I thought seeing a professional stylist to tame out of control locks would be a great idea! At least we would learn a bit more about products, etc.as I'm not a big hair product girl and with the hair that Grant and Nate were blessed with, I felt there was something they should be using.

After convincing Nate to take time out of his day, he said "Ok Mom make an appointment." So, I did and off we went. In the middle of the afternoon, there were so many other things a teenage boy would rather be doing during his winter break than going to a professional salon and getting a haircut.

As we get to the salon, Nate looks around as though I have plopped him in the middle of a Women's Social Club, all ladies in their chairs getting their shampoos, highlights and trims. Walking to his chair, we hear conversations about children, grandchildren, the most recent travel excursions. This doesn't faze me, this is normal for me but when I saw the look on Nate's face, I quickly realized, "Oh snap, this better be a good haircut or I have forever lost any respect and trust regarding "a professional stylist" when it comes to Nate's hair and its management."

Nate puts on his cape and follows his stylist to the chair, and I go sit in the front to wait. At one moment I turn around and I think to myself, hmmm- I don't think I like how this is starting to look. Then, I remind myself that we have the best stylist in the salon for curly men's hair, so I relax and carry on with my magazine. When Nate appears in front of me, very distraught. I look up and notice that he has the most perfect bobbed haircut I have ever seen for curly hair. "MOM- I look like a girl!" he loudly states to me. As I fight back the urge to agree (and a bit of laughter) I quickly say "No, no you don't, we'll wash it when we get home, and it'll fall into place." He's angry, I'm disheartened at how this has turned out, AND we pay and leave.

Driving home I look over and without thinking for another minute I make quick diverted turn. Nate asked where we were going, and I say, "to get a haircut." ANOTHER haircut because, that's what you do when you don't like your first haircut, I guess. You stop on the way home for another one. We walk into a quick cut salon, and I say to the lady, we just left another salon where my son got a haircut, AND we don't like the bob. Without thinking, the lady looks at Nate, a bit impressed at how great his curly bob looks for a guy and says, "Oh honey, follow me curls."

About 20 minutes later we're heading home from an all-afternoon excursion of haircuts. Nate's happy that his hair is no longer bobbed and I'm happy that Nate is happy. Even though I know in Nate's mind it was the biggest haircut debacle he had ever experienced, looking back on it I'd do it all over again to have that much time uninterrupted time with Nate. Needless to say, no more salons for Nate's haircuts in Richmond. It was always Dan cutting his hair after that. I do think Nate ended up finding a barber in Columbia that he loved because if you've ever seen Nate's hair after a couple to a few months of no trim or cut, you'd start to not recognize him.

I know your curls are still tight and shiny bud and I know that you'll look your best yet when we see you again! I miss you Nate and would give anything for the opportunity to debate your hair stylist again!

Love you forever Naterbug~

XO Mom

Nate – businessman, mechanic, entrepreneur, welder, chef, inventor. Inventor? Yep, he did some of that too! Let me tell you about it.

It was 12 or more years ago (or somewhere in that range), and our heat was having some trouble. When we turned it on for the first time as the season got cooler, the heat didn’t come on. I was at work or out of town for work, so Leslie called the repair people and out they come to the house. Our downstairs unit is under the house so as part of troubleshooting/repairing, the guy had to go into the crawl space. When he finishes fixing the heat, he comes into the house to explain what he fixed. He hands Leslie this little spiral ring notepad - a small one that is 3x5 inches or thereabouts. “I found this under your house and thought you would want it.” He tells her.

Puzzled, Leslie looks at the notepad. The cover says “Nate’s book of inventions” in the handwriting of a 4th grade Nate Baker. As she flips through the notebook, there are drawings on many of the pages. Holy cow, she thinks to herself with so many questions: Did Nate really make this? Why was it under the house? How did it get under the house? When did he make this? Pure wonder and amazement are how I would describe it!

When I get home from work, Leslie shows me “Nate’s book of inventions” and we ask Nate about it. He is embarrassed we found it. It is obvious from his reactions that it is his book, and I think he thought of it more as a diary. He is evasive in his answers due to his embarrassment! He tells us “I threw it away under there because it’s stupid!”.

Stupid? Wha…? It is pure treasure! We tell him that we LOVE it and encourage him but he would hear none of it. He had written down and drawn ideas in the notebook and I remember looking through it wondering how his 4th/5th brain had come up with so many ideas. I distinctly remember one of them: A soda launcher! He had drawn a pic of a stick figure in a recliner on one side of the page and one the other side of the page was a vending machine with a soda can flying out of it toward the dude in the Barcalounger! You don’t even have to get out of your chair to get a can of soda – brilliant!!

Leslie remembers one with food or cooking (go figure – chef Nate started his ideas early!).

Unfortunately, we do not know the location of “Nate’s book of inventions” anymore. We suspect Nate threw it away or destroyed it soon after we discussed it with him given his embarrassment about us finding it. There is no way we would have thrown it away!

Nate’s brain started on a creative path early. Between legos, building robots, and his book of inventions, he was exploring creating and building things early on. As I reflect on this things sometimes, I suppose I should have expected him to teach himself to weld and learn to fix and build things.

May he continue to help us all build things – friendships, communities, and experiences that will carry us to our final day until we see him again.

I love you and I miss you Nate Baker!

Firecracker Chicken!

Did you know Nate loved to cook? One of his many passions - he was an aspiring amateur chef. He would often send us photos of the things he had cooked at the house in Columbia. Grilled sandwiches (how can a sandwich look so good?!), baked chicken thighs and various chicken pasta dishes - including Firecracker Chicken. He even sent me photos of steaks one time – I think he did them in a cast iron pan with Bella or maybe it was with Duncan and Sam? That is splurging for a college kids.

He loved to try new things in the air fryer too. I think Duncan, Sam and Nate had a contest to see who could make the most delicious meal using only the air fryer. That may not be true but the way they would all talk about it, I think it may have been an unspoken bet!

Anyway, when all the kids were home for Christmas break 2024, Leslie and I asked them to be in charge of a meal one week. We thought it would be nice for them to be accountable for the decision on what to have for dinner and how to get it made or created. Nate chose Firecracker Chicken. I remember it because he was actually excited about sharing this meal with us. “Oh Dad, I can’t wait for you to try this. Firecracker Chicken is SO good. The sauce has a little kick to it and – oh man – you will love it!”.

He got all the stuff to make it and then went to town. I remember him in the kitchen with a grin on his face while cooking the meal. He was genuinely excited to be preparing a meal for us. I remember he boiled the penne pasta in chicken broth - or at least some chicken broth was in with it. I remember that because I had never even thought of that and it seemed strange to me at the time. He also boiled the pasta in our large 4-inch-deep pan rather than a deeper pot. I had also never done that.

He made the sauce in a different 3-quart pot and that was the magic. Like liquid crack. I don’t remember the ingredients and will have to work hard to dig that back up from my memory because it was delicious. We need to remember the recipe! After draining the pasta, he added the sauce and chicken right into the pan he prepped the pasta in and mixed it all up. It was a spicy, creamy deliciousness that we all DEVOURED! He had some bread to go with it because you wanted to sop up all the sauce when you ate this. You couldn’t leave any of that deliciousness behind. I told him he had to make that again for us someday but we never got the chance to have Nate cook for us again.

I can see him now in a big kitchen in heaven. You and I both know he has on a huge chef’s hat! He has on an apron too – I bet the apron has a smart aleck statement on it or maybe it’s a camo one with big deer antlers on it? I think he may wear a different one every time he cooks up there!

I think of you every day Nate. I miss that big smile so much. I will see you again one day Nate! Love you!

Lacrosse. Nate loved lacrosse and particularly loved playing goalie. Being a part of a team where every player on the field needs to work together was a thrill for Nate. The defense has to be coordinated - looking for cutters, being able to slide when a man gets beat, knowing who is “hot”, following the ball as the other team moves and shifts and so much more. The goalie is effectively the quarterback of the defense and Nate loved that challenge, and he loved being the final backstop for the team.

Grant also played lacrosse for many years. Grant was a close defender. This means he was positioned nearest the goal all the time. Grant also took pride in defending the goal just like Nate. Staying between the opponent and the goal and trying to never let them get by or to have a clean shot on goal was his role. Defenders have a longer stick and use it to poke check and stick check the offense as they try to maneuver around you. Grant LOVED making them uncomfortable with checks! Checks are kind of like legal harassment – a key part of the game and when done well, you can really make the offense hesitant and less effective. Grant wanted to be the defender that no attack man wanted to be guarded by - he could do it with his size, strength and skill too!

So - Nate as a goalie and Grant as a close defender. Those two positions would normally play just about side by side. However, Nate was 2 grades below Grant AND there was an exceptional goalie in Grant’s grade that started – Ben Hazelgrove (Ben was also a wonderful mentor and teacher to Nate – thank you Ben!). That meant Grant and Nate almost never got to play together in the same games. We spent many nights at the lacrosse field for hours as we would watch Nate play goalie for JV and then watch Grant play defense for Varsity. (Some very, very cold nights on occasion as LAX season starts in early spring.) We didn’t complain, we loved watching the kids play sports!

Anyway, we almost never got to see them play at the same time. “Almost” I say because there were a couple times this happened – literally 2 times I remember - and only one of them was in an official high school game. I distinctly remember it because we realized how special it was! I still cry thinking about it looking at the photos I am going to post. It was May 21, 2019 in a game at Hermitage High School. It happened. Nate went into goal for Ben, and Grant was on the field in defense. As a dad, the thought of my older son, Grant, playing defense to try to prevent shots on goal where my younger son, Nate was positioned gave me goose bumps and powerful waves of emotions that I could not have imagined. I am certain my eyes welled with tears while watching the game – I remember looking at Leslie and we were both about to cry. We thought we may never get to see it and here it was. We were both so proud of our boys out on the field at the same time coordinating and playing together. I don’t know if it was our imagination or if Grant played an ounce harder when Nate went into goal but it was incredible to watch them together out there.

We cherished that memory at the time and took some photos to make sure we had it recorded. It was so special then and it’s so special now.

We love you Nate Baker. All of us – Grant, Emily Grace, mom and me! No more bruises and welts on your arms and legs from stopping shots!

Nate tried a lot of different sports. One time we signed Nate and Grant up for the same basketball camp. As I recall it was just up the road in Ashland at Randolph Macon. I think Nate was 10 or 12 and Grant is a couple years older than Nate.

So up they went to the camp on day 1. Nate didn’t seem too thrilled that night. He wasn’t enjoying the camp. Turns out, there was a kid being a real jerk to him all day apparently. A kid was bullying him. We discussed it with him and told him to make sure the coaches/counselors/leaders of the camp knew it and they would likely help. Day 2 came and at dinnertime that night, we learned that approach wasn’t too successful. The kid was still able to bully and insult and bother him when the counselors/coaches weren’t watching closely. It was robbing Nate of his fun and made him not even want to go back. He was uncomfortable at the camp.

So, Leslie and I had a parenting moment to handle. What do you do? Pull him out of the camp? Force him to go anyway? I will admit that I don’t know if it was the right thing to do but here is what I coached the boys to do…

First thing I did was coach Nate that almost all bullies are chickens when it comes down to it. They bully because they are insecure, and if you stand up to them, they will move on to easier targets. Second thing I told him was that if he punched the kid or got in a fight with him, he would be in zero trouble with me and mom. If being kind and thoughtful wasn’t working, I wanted him to stand up for himself if he got cornered by this bully, and if he got kicked out of the camp for it, I would take him to get ice cream. I wouldn’t be upset with him at all.

Finally, I turned to Grant and made it crystal clear to Grant – “Nate is your brother, and you have to watch out for him. If Nate gets in a fight – Grant, YOU are in a fight too. You understand? If Nate comes home bleeding, YOU better be bleeding too or you better have decked the kid that did it!” – pretty sure those were my exact words. Those of you who know Grant know that this would have been very out of character for him. He was our “Gentle Giant” because he was huge for his age and he was so kind and caring to all those around him. However, I wanted him to know that if Nate got in a fight, the kind and caring goes out the window for everyone except for his brother!

I remember Grant’s face going from concentration and a little puzzlement over to a grin. I had NEVER encouraged the kids to do anything like this. Leslie and I had always taught the kids to be kind, considerate and thoughtful! I remember a grin coming across Grant’s face as he pondered and understood what I meant – I like to think the thought of sticking up for his brother made him smile, but maybe it was the idea of being able to punch a jerk and not get in trouble? I may have to ask him if he remembers…

Anyway, I remember Leslie wasn’t too thrilled with my approach to this (probably rightfully so), but we were paying money to have our boys at this camp and Nate being harassed by a bully made my blood boil. Right or wrong, that is what I told the boys.

Next day at dinner comes and we are talking to the boys about their day and how things went. Nate is a little happier today I can tell. Neither of them is bleeding (thank God – I think Leslie would have punched me in the nose if they were!). Nate proceeds to tell us how the day went.

At one point, this bully came up behind Nate standing really close and leaned into the back of his head and started whispering stuff to him. “You’re a little whiny p*ssy. You are worthless and I am going to kick the sh*t out of you.” Stuff like that. Nate tells us “I snapped and spun around and smacked the kid right in the face Dad!” I must admit, my initial thought as he told me this was “uh oh, what have I done?”. Nate clarified that he didn’t punch him – it was open handed. My Nate had bitch-slapped the bully! I was stunned! Nate had a smile on his face at this point.

“What happened then?” I asked Nate.

“Nothing. He walked away and didn’t bother me anymore” was Nate’s answer back.

I looked around the table for a second and I think we were all smiling. Nate had stood up to the bully and it worked.

No bully’s in heaven. No need to worry or fret or fear.

I miss you and love you Nate! Every. Single. Day. 

Nate modeled as a mermaid. Ok, "modeled" is a stretch but let me tell you about the silliness that ensued one year at the beach.

We had a family vacation every year at the beach for almost 40 years courtesy of Bammy and Bampy. We started it in Hilton Head, SC.  After a few years there, we moved the annual trip to OBX to shorten the drive for my sister, Kelly, and us when we started having kids.  HHI was a LONG way when you had little kids in the car.

This annual trip became a highlight every year as the kids LOVED hanging out with their cousins (Amy and Molly) and Aunts and Uncles and Bammy/Bampy too!  Bammy and Bampy would rent the same large house every year and we would all gather for a week of pure joy, laughter, games, food and fun.  We weren't afraid to act like idiots and laugh with each other.

Well in 2018, Leslie and I brought a mermaid bathing suit/outfit for Emily Grace thinking she would find it fun.  She may have even asked for it? Regardless, we got one and brought it.

EG tried it one day and quickly decided it was a lot less fun than it looked.  Trying to play in the pool with it on was difficult and she was disappointed and put it aside.

Enter Nate! "How much would you give me if I put on that mermaid outfit?" Nate asked. The banter started immediately - "You can't fit in that!", "You would be cute in that Nate!", "You won't do it!" and many other comments were flying in the discussion.  All of us laughing just thinking about the idea.

Nate was officially challenged and egged on - and he was up to the task!  This was a mermaid outfit sized for a 10 year old girl, but 14 year old Nate starts squeezing into it. He pulls it on a little at a time.  He shimmies and shakes and pulls it up little by little. I can still see him now. The rest of us by the pool are laughing and smiling and continuing with the comments as Nate is pulling it on hoping it won't rip. He is also excited and full of laughter and comments - he loves making people laugh and have a good time and this is certainly working as we are all in happy disbelief as he's doing it. I can still see the scene now and feel the vibe he created.

Finally, he gets it on all the way. Ta-da! He isn't done - he starts posing! We eat it up and laugh and Uncle Steve snaps some photos of him as he hops around (His feet are constrained together!) and strikes various poses. EG is perfectly happy to have Nate wearing the outfit and she is giddy and laughing with all of us.

That was Nate.  Not afraid to make a fool of himself for his friend's and family's entertainment and in fact laughing and having as much fun as he is creating for others.

I am quite sure if you have a wardrobe up there Nate, you are pulling this one out occasionally to bring some joy and create some laughter!

I love you and miss you Nate!