Mason Hammons

Mason Dixon was born on a beautiful Tuesday morning at 9:59 am on July 22, 2008. He is the second son born into the Hammons family. He made his way into the world at 7lbs 2oz and 19 1/4 inches long. Beautifully and perfectly made, he brought light and joy into our lives. Mason was an easy and happy baby. Since the early days he explored the world with excitement and wonder, always curious.

Mason had an instantaneous kind of love for his older brother Christian, always wanting to be near him and to watch him, play with him. Mason was our little observer, taking everything in. Trying to explain the bond between these two is difficult, they were each other’s comfort and constant companion. Inseparable. Mason was a little sad when his little brother Austin was born, not being the baby of the family any longer. But even more than sad was the excitement of having someone new to play with. From the first moment Mason met his new brother he had a look of being awestruck and developed a new love.

We encouraged Mason to explore and discover, to never stop learning and growing. So many memories come to mind, it would be hard to tell them all. When Mason was younger he played for hours outdoors in the dirt and sand. Making mud pies, collecting sticks for sword play, water balloon and super soaker, and nerf wars with his brothers and cousin. Inside time was spent playing games, building forts, lego builds and having family movie and game nights.

So many hours spent in the kitchen, learning to cook and making snacks and at one point dreamed of becoming a chef. He was our official unofficial taste tester of anything made. Usually sneaking into the kitchen to take bites before dinner was ready. When he was little Mason liked to run through the house announcing that “dinner is ready” even when it wasn’t yet.

Mason always had a love of going fast. That started at a young age, from riding bicycles, scooters to his super cool space scooter that he wanted so bad one year for his birthday to learning to ride four wheelers and dirt bikes. When teaching him to drive he always wanted to drive my car because it “went vroom”. Anyone who ever rode with him can attest to that with him always giving a smile or laugh.

The great outdoors played a big part in Mason’s raising, as a family we went on numerous camping adventures that entailed hiking, swimming, fishing and nights spent around camp fires talking about all the things we found or the funny things that had happened that day. We had great times exploring at state parks, national forests, cave systems, lakes, beaches and mountain trips. We tried to nurture his love of this beautiful and stunning world around us. Mason was an excellent fisherman, his dad taught him starting at a young age how to fish. We went on guided tours and deep sea fishing trips. He loved to show everyone else up by being “king fisherman “. We are quite competitive as a family and it usually ended up as a contest, who could get the biggest catch.

Starting at an early age his dad taught him how to be still and quiet, because he wanted to go hunting with him and you don’t want to scare the animals away. He went dove and deer hunting with his dad and older brother. Mason had the opportunity to go to a high fence ranch in south Texas with his dad, big brother and other family, which is where he got his first deer. One of Masons favorite food groups as he called it was deer jerky. Usually eating most of it before anyone else had a chance, sometimes hiding it so no one else could eat it.

The time we went white water rafting the Arkansas river in Colorado was actually quite funny. Mason was small enough that the guide asked him if he wanted to row or ride, Mason picked ride. Since he was not rowing with us it was his job to record the trip down river. When we looked back at the footage, it was mostly of the raft and of him bouncing around. You could hear the water rushing by and his laughter.

Almost every summer we went at least once to Wonderland amusement park to ride rides and eat “the junk” as we called it. The first thing we had to ride was the Mousetrap and the Pirate-ship. His favorite water park was Schlitterbaun in Galveston, Tx. with Hurricane Harbor in Arlington, Tx second. A few times we made it to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine for family vacations with his grandparents. Be prepared for stairs at that place.

Anytime someone spent the night we always played hide and seek in the dark. It’s one of those, “if you know you know “ kind of things. It became a ritual, no matter how big the boys got we played. Mason hardly ever wanted to be it, with him being scared of the dark.

In the car we were always singing, Mason was usually my backup singer with occasionally taking the lead. I miss our duets. Growing up he would have me sing to him at night before bed, learning whatever song he desired. Mason’s favorite for me to sing was “Star Spangled Banner”, he knew our national anthem word for word. Music has been an important part of his life, listening to almost all genres. When he was little he was my little punk rocker. One time his Meme had gotten him a miniature guitar. We had just gotten home with it when he started pretending he was a rock star and ended up breaking it.

Growing up we had numerous dance parties with the brothers and dad all the while teaching Mason to dance. Mason enjoyed twirling and dipping me around the room. I can still picture him getting down to some of his favorites “The eye of the tiger”, “Don’t stop believing“, “Thrift shop”, “Can’t hold us” and “Stolen dance” to name a few just getting his groove on without a care in the world. Mason had taken piano lessons and played the cello in the school orchestra.

Mason played soccer for 4 years before starting baseball consecutively. When Mason played t-ball he would run on his tiptoes so his nickname was “Twinkle Toes” all the while moving with robot arms. He played as a 1st and 3rd baseman. There were even few years that his team won tournaments. It was such a joy to watch him, he had skill. His favorite team was the Houston Astros. During middle school he played football and in high school he did cross country track for a bit, he was fast.

I can remember all the years that he played video games. Playing Minecraft, Lego themed games, Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare, with his favorite being Fortnite. So many days and nights we watched him and his friends play. He was the best Fortnite player I’ve known. Him and his friend dreaming of winning the World Cup someday. I honestly believe he could’ve done it.

Mason was very patriotic, he was proud to live in this country and to be an American. Most of his life he had the desire to join our military in either the marines or army branches. He also had an interest in being a homicide detective to go along with the true crime documentaries and shows he would watch.